[Dion]

Compared with heterosexual couples, the review showed that on average, two mothers tended to play with their children more and were less likely to use physical discipline (relative to the time spent with kids). And like heterosexual parents, new parenthood among lesbians increased stress and conflict within the couple. Also, lesbian biological mothers typically assumed greater care-giving responsibility than their partners, reflecting inequities also found between mothers and fathers.

"The bottom line is that the science shows that children raised by two same-gender parents do as well on average as children raised by two different-gender parents," Biblarz said. "This is obviously inconsistent with the widespread claim that children must be raised by a mother and a father to do well."

The scientists note they don't expect the results to change minds.

Another concern has been that boys raised without a "father figure" will not have an appropriate model for masculinity. A study from the U.K., however, suggested that 12-year-olds raised by mother-only families (lesbian or heterosexual) scored the same on masculinity factors as sons raised by a mother and a father. Interestingly, though, the mother-only boys also scored higher on femininity scales.

To amass the most exhaustive and reliable data pool possible, Stacey and Biblarz analyzed all of the research they could dig up, which amounted to more than 80 relevant studies.

In general, they didn't find evidence for differences in parenting abilities between two moms versus a mom and dad raising kids.

"[The research] pretty much shows that almost no study that has been done on this topic has confirmed this common sense assumption that gender is critical or that a father-mother household works better for kids than a same-sex household," said Brian Powell, a sociologist at Indiana University, who also wasn't involved in this review.

http://www.livescience.com/6073-chil...dies-show.html