A new British and Dutch study has suggested that children of same-sex couples do better at school than their peers who come from more traditional families. Researchers say there are a number of reasons why having same-sex parents may make a difference.

The research by the University of Oxford and Maastricht University in the Netherlands looked at almost 3,000 children who have same-sex parents, comprising 2,786 lesbian couples and 185 male couples. They compared their educational performance with over a million children who have opposite gendered parents.

All of the children were followed from birth until in the end of primary school in the longitudinal study, while one third were followed to the end of their secondary education. They found that generally the children of same-sex couples did better.

The study only included families where there were two parents, single parent families were not included because there was no way to determine from the large databases they were using the sexual orientation of a single parent.

Researchers found that children with same-sex parents were more likely to have graduated from high school. The authors of the report have highlighted that outdated studies are often quoted in arguments against legalising same sex marriage.

It it proposed that the children do better because same-sex couples may be more wealthy, having children has often involved expensive IVF procedures to start with. The same-sex parents may also have higher levels of education that their heterosexual counterparts.

OIP Staff

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