Same-sex parents are likely to face unique stressors due to their sexual orientation, such as negative feedback from family and friends, and a hostile social and legal environment. This added stress of same-sex parents may in turn translate to reduced mental health of their children. Previous literature that compared mental health outcomes of children with same-sex versus different-sex parents relied on small selective samples or cross-sectional parent surveys prone to misreporting, social desirability bias and the inability to separate children who were born in same-sex families from children in previous different-sex relationships. In our proposed study, we address these issues using longitudinal population data from the Netherlands, which was the first country to legalize same-sex marriage. Using novel quasi-experimental methods, we compare more than 1,000 children with same-sex parents with over 500,000 children with different-sex parents on the use of antidepressants and mental health care between the ages of 16 and 20. Our results would inform policy makers throughout the world whether children of same-sex parents are doing well in a relatively tolerant country towards gender and sexual minorities, or whether policy measures are necessary to improve their wellbeing.

Photo by Daniel Martinez