title: Adolescents with lesbian mothers describe their own lives.
abstract: Empirical research on the everyday life experiences of adolescents reared by lesbian mothers is limited. The current study gathered self-report descriptive data from 78 adolescents enrolled in the largest, longest-running, prospective longitudinal study of planned lesbian families, with a 93% retention rate to date. Results revealed that the 17-year-old adolescents were academically successful in supportive school environments. They had active social networks and close family bonds. Nearly all considered their mothers good role models. The adolescents rated their overall wellbeing an average of 8.14 on a 10-point-maximum scale. The implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, Los Angeles, CA, USA. ngartrell@nllfs.org
authors.forename: Nanette
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gartrell
authors.forename: Henny M W
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Bos
authors.forename: Heidi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Peyser
authors.forename: Amalia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Deck
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rodas
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D001290:Attitude; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends / Q000523:psychology; D005783:Gender Identity; D006040:Goals; D006306:Health Surveys; D018452:Homosexuality, Female / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007899:Leisure Activities; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D012917:Social Adjustment; D057545:Social Stigma; D012944:Social Support