Lesbian households have a 0% abuse rate

[Anonymous]

I don't think adoptive parents have a 0% abuse rate. I'm not sure of the actual stats, but am aware of some cases of adoptive parents being abusive. I guess lesbian households outside of this small study could be abusive, too. I wonder if there has been such a study on couples (any type) who have adopted or gone through fertility treatments to build their families.

It has to have some "weeding out" affect, though I don't think it would be absolute.

[Anonymous]

"It has to have some "weeding out" affect, though I don't think it would be absolute. "

Does it weed out Joe Jackson?

[Anonymous]

Father of the Jackson 5 or the British singer?

[Anonymous]

It's an interesting study, but with a TINY sample size. As with most studies, I think it's mainly useful to continue to point out areas where further study might be warranted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"It has to have some "weeding out" affect, though I don't think it would be absolute. "

Does it weed out Joe Jackson?

Is Joe Jackson a lesbian, adoptive parent or did he go through fertility treatments to have children?

If none of the above, then I don't see how he fits into this conversation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That is just common sense. A household with two female parents will naturally be safer for a child than one with a male and female parent. Who beats and abuses kids most? Stepfathers followed by biological fathers. And I say this as a Bible-thumping conservative.

80% of abuse is the parents, and more than half of it are the mothers. This is from HHS data. I think you are thinking about sexual abuse, which is a small component of abuse and neglect.

The lesbian data is unusual. My guess is that lesbian couples who choose to have kids have higher education and income. It's not as easy to become a parent. It's nearly impossible to become a parent by accident.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I think that an overlooked factor may be that lesbians don't tend to get pregnant accidentally. Risky behavior in straight people, which may be an indication of maturity and ability to parent effectively, can lead to pregnancy. Since gay and lesbian parents have to go through extraordinary means to parent, they have to, at the very least, give it more thought than the average straight couple. Could this single step weed out the immature and risky ones?

Obviously, not. Adoptive parents?

If you think it is easy to adopt as a gay couple, you must be living in the way distant future. There are a lot of barriers. It's a heck of a lot easier to get knocked up after a football game than it is to adopt. And it's a lot easier to adopt as a straight couple than as a gay couple.

[Anonymous]

I don't think it's 0%. Maybe those willing to participate in the study are from socio-economic demographics with statistically less abuse or maybe they are not willing to report abuse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I think that an overlooked factor may be that lesbians don't tend to get pregnant accidentally. Risky behavior in straight people, which may be an indication of maturity and ability to parent effectively, can lead to pregnancy. Since gay and lesbian parents have to go through extraordinary means to parent, they have to, at the very least, give it more thought than the average straight couple. Could this single step weed out the immature and risky ones?

Makes sense to me but I think we should also look at how women are socialized to deal with anger -- usually turning it inwards and becoming self-destructive. Obviously some women abuse their kids but we're trained more often to hurt ourselves rather than others when we get pissed off.