Study praised for showing that ‘gay men can make great dads’
A study at Oregon State University has found that men are equally as good at being a child’s primary caregiver as women.
The results, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, discovered that men raising a child without a female partner had the same level of emotional response as was demonstrated in the study’s primary care-giving females.
Scientists also found that men raising a child without a woman had the same heightened thinking and planning response as was found when they were a secondary caregiver, and with a woman.
Tor Docherty, Director of New Family Social, an organisation for LGBT adoptive and foster families, said: “We know from our experience and from all the relevant research that children thrive in LGBT families.
“NFS is always pleased to see research which bears out what we know; that gay men can make great dads.”
There are no comparable studies which investigate single mothers, people who are not parents but are raising children, and lesbian parents.
Studies have previously discovered that children with same-sex parents are on average happier than those with opposite-sex parents, and also have generally better health.
