Introduction
The 21st century has seen more significant changes in identification with sexual identities as society has changed its perception and started recognizing gay, lesbianism and same-sex marriages. However, there are some opposing views from those who belief same-sex marriages should be illegal. The advancement has led to the increased desire for new institutions where same-sex marriages have begun raising families. In the United States, same-sex households are around 594,000, a 50 percent increase from the number recorded in 2000 (Conerly et al., 2021). The number of such families has raised questions about the behavior the children portray. An analysis on behavioral development show that there is a significant psychological impact on children from LGBT marriages compared to the traditional opposite-sex marriages.
In the past few decades, there has been a proliferation of studies concerned with gays, lesbians, and bisexual parenting, with family building most emphasis. A significant interest has been made on the LGBT family-building process, the journey of parenthood among LGBT parents, and the relationship maintained between LGB parents and their children. The challenges they experience are, in most cases, regarding perception in terms of their race, social class, ethnicity, locality, and the legal framework in their area of residency (Carone et al., 2021). Therefore, such aspects indicate the need to examine how such marriages impact society.
Literature Review
Family building in most marriages involve children who are conceived due to different-sex relationships. This aspect means that the children are taken from normal sexual relationships due to reasons such as divorce, leading to the development of new families after the post-heterosexual relationships (Carone et al., 2021). The change in family structure leads to developing new family relationships like step-parenting, a new form of family identity. An examination on LGBT marriages has shown that same-sex partners have varied parenting desires, intentions, and child-rearing experiences (Carone et al., 2021). Families indicate that children raised in same sex-marriages have some strengths in aspects like empathy and resilience, which positively impacts their growth and development.
A theoretical and empirical study on the behavioral aspects of children raised in LGBT families present substantial variations from those raised in customary opposite-sex marriages. According to Mills-Koonce et al. (2018), there are few differences in self-esteem, psychological adjustments, the quality of life they maintain, and their social functioning. Such families portray a varied perception of sexual behavior of boys and girls among children raised in opposite-sex marriages to those raised in same-sex families (Mills-Koonce et al., 2018). In addition, a difference in gender attitudes among children raised in heterosexual families and those raised in LGB families is evident. Despite such information, more research needs to be undertaken since there is limited literature on how such families influence the well-being of the children considering that same-sex marriages are prone to stigmatization.
Comparison and Contrast
The two articles indicate that parental influence on human offspring cannot be understated. According to Mills-Koonce et al. (2018), aspects like peers, school, media, and parents influence a child’s development the most. It is perceived that the adolescent development stage is challenging for families as the identities of the children and the youths experience an evolution during the development stage. In addition, the parent-child relationship inevitably influences how the children navigate to adulthood (Mills-Koonce et al., 2018). Creating an LGBT identity among adolescents is challenging; therefore, it is necessary to understand how it develops. Theoretical principles like wholeness and order, adaptive-self organization, and hierarchical structure enhance the understanding of how LGBT children develop their identity (Mills-Koonce et al., 2018). These principles are part of the systems theory, and they reveal how the gender of sexual identity influences how the children’s reactions to parents have long-term and short-term effects on their well-being.
The different LGBT family arrangements are perceived to have other impacts on children. According to Carone et al. (2021), there is limited research on lesbian families’ various ways of raising children. Modes like insemination, adoption, or sexual intercourse create varied feelings among lesbian families toward the children. Adoption in lesbian and gay-parent families shows that the quality of family processes and the level of stigmatization affect child adjustment into the family (Carone et al., 2021). Such aspects have solid and unique challenges among school-going children compared to those obtained from sexual minority parents. The stigmatization level in such families has varied impacts on the children since the bond shared differs. In addition, the intention to get children among the various forms of LBGT families are other making have a significant impact on the children.
The articles differ in aspects addressing the nature of the family the children are raised in and their impacts. The different nature of family units like single-parent families where single mothers or single dads raise the kids have a significant impact the children. Adding LGBT family units has raised other issues as they differ from standard family units. Such advancements have raised more questions on how such settings influence the well-being of the children requiring advanced research to understand the impacts.
Conclusion
The literature in the studies is limited; therefore, there is a need for more investigation into the matter. The studies also address different aspects concerning the health and well-being of the children raised in other family settings, showing varied outcomes for the children. Due to the diverse nature of family settings, much information needs to be synthesized to enhance the understanding of LGBT families on the children. Therefore, although there is evidence of significant impacts of aspects like sexual identity and victimization on the children. More actions need to be taken with an aim of understanding how the different family structures among the LGBT settings impact the children raised in such families.
References
Carone, N., Bos, H., Shenkman, G., & Tasker, F. (2021). Editorial: LGBTQ parents and their children during the family life cycle. Frontiers in Psychology, 12.
Conerly, T., Holmes, K., & Tamang, A. (2021). Introduction to sociology 3e. Rice University.
Mills-Koonce, W., Rehder, P., & McCurdy, A. (2018). The significance of parenting and parent- child relationships for sexual and gender minority adolescents. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 28(3), 637-649.