Study: People raised by lesbian parents are less likely to be straight

Children of lesbian parents are less likely to identify as heterosexual than children of straight couples, a new study has found.

After surveying 76 people in their mid-20s who were raised by lesbian parents, and comparing the results to a similar set of people raised by straight parents, research from the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law has discovered that the children of lesbian parents are "significantly more likely to report same-sex attraction, sexual minority identity, and same-sex experience."

The Williams Institute study used data provided by the U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS), the "longest-running and largest" study of "lesbian mothers and their children" in the U.S., which has been collecting data on the lives and families of American lesbians since 1986, NBC News reported.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The study found that while 88 percent of women and 98 percent of men raised by straight couples identified as "heterosexual or straight," among the children of lesbian parents, only 70 percent of women and 90 percent of men identified that way.

To be clear, the study has not found that the sexuality of one's parents, any more than genetics or hormones, is the "one factor that is a single determinant" in a person's sexuality, explained Nanette Gartrell, lead author of the Williams Institute's study and principal researcher at the NLLFS. She added that children of non-straight parents might have "more expansive perspectives on sexuality," which could explain the difference.

Read more about this study at NBC News.