So far in the semester we have talked about some studies that were done about if children were at a disadvantage being raised by a homosexual couple verses a heterosexual couple. The information that we looked over was fascinating. 

There was a statement released by the APA (American Psychological Association) that stated "Not a single study has found children of lesbian or gay parents to be disadvantaged in any significant respect relative to children of heterosexual parents". 

Luckily for us they had to provide where they got that information from. By taking a good look at the studies, we found that the claimed statement wasn't true. Most of the research was not done in an accurate way to make these claims true. Some of the studies were comparing well off white lesbians' to single mothers. Which we know from other studies that single mothers are already at a disadvantage compared to heterosexual couples. Some of their studies had no comparison group. Or they only gathered information from small groups (most being under the minimum 30 people for soft science research). Some were looking at the outcome of the parents behavior instead of how the children turned out. They weren't looking at the effects it had on the children themselves. There was even a study done about the psychologists/therapists associated with the families, not the children.

It was very intriguing to me to see this sort of misinformation represented for this group of people. No matter what the outcome is, I think that it should be represented with the correct information. Everyone deserves to be correctly represented. There have been studies done recently with more reliable research to represent the homosexual couples raising children and how it effects them, along with many other family structures. Here is a link to one of these studies: http://familystructurestudies.com/

My own thoughts: 
As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints family is really important to us/me. Everything we do is around family. In fact the whole plan that God made for us is, that all of us (His eternal family) return to live with Him again. He cares so much about all of His children (us) no matter who they are or where they come from. He loves us! That is why God cares about the management of His children. He has set rules/commandments to live by in order to protect us from some of the pains of the world such as: (Anxiety & depression, criminal activity, drug/alcohol abuse, relationship quality, suicide, grief, loneliness, sex at a young age, trauma, job stability, etc.) Now we all have the ability to choose for ourselves if we are willing to follow those commandments, but He promises so many blessings if we keep them, such as: (peace, happiness, stable & healthy relationships, job opportunities, community, companionship of the Holy Ghost, safety from incarceration, etc.)

 Some studies say that not growing up in a home with both a mom and a dad has an effect on you. (Mental health issues, criminal activity, drug/alcohol abuse, relationship quality, suicide rate, education, therapy attendance, etc.) I am not saying that if you have grown up in circumstances other than these that you grew up wrong, or that you didn't have a good childhood. What I am saying is that God wants us to have the best opportunities in life, and so He wants us to raise our kids in a way that will give them the best possible outcome for their lives. It is like a math class, God is the teacher and we are the students. He has provided the equation to get us to the answer the easiest way possible, with the least resistance. There are other equations that can get us the same result, but not without some finagling. No matter what circumstances we are dealt in life, God loves us. No matter what equation we use, He loves us. What He cares about is, that we get to the answer one way or another. The answer will always be Him. He is the key to pure happiness in this life!

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