research

First-year college students' political and social views continue to shift in a progressive direction. An unprecedented 71.3 percent of incoming college students indicated that same-sex couples should have the right to legal marital status, compared with 64.9 percent in 2009, according to the 2011 CIRP Freshman Survey, which is based on the responses of more than 200,000 first-time full-time students entering four-year colleges across the country.

Research on families headed by gay and lesbian parents shows that we may bring talents to the job that straight parents don't. Gay parents "tend to be more motivated, more committed than heterosexual parents on average, because they chose to be parents," said Abbie Goldberg, a psychologist at Clark University in Massachusetts who researches gay and lesbian parenting. Gays and lesbians rarely become parents by accident, compared with an almost 50 percent accidental pregnancy rate among heterosexuals, Goldberg said.

An Australian study found that gay parents place a big priority on spending time with their children, perhaps because of the effort gay people must go to, to have kids. As a result, both partners usually take responsibility for generating income and household tasks. It was also found that compared with straight parents, both gay parents are much more likely to be working part-time.

The AP reports new research being released Wednesday shows steadily increasing recognition of unmarried couples - gay and straight - as families. Between 2003 and 2010, three surveys showed a significant shift toward counting same-sex couples with children as family - from 54 percent of respondents in 2003 to 68 percent in 2010.

A new study at SFSU explores how gay men respond to the challenge of parenting (please note that the study is open to residents of the greater SF Bay Area only). Objectives include examining the impact of parenting on the health and wellbeing of gay couples with children across multiple health domains, including at the individual, couple, and environmental levels. Participation involves completing one 90-120 minute face-to-face interview.

The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute is conducting a research-based project that aims to increase and improve the adoption of children by lesbian and gay individuals and couples.

As part of the project, the Institute is collecting information through a survey of GLBT parents on their experiences in adopting children, as well as their perceptions of their current needs.

Why haven't gay people gone extinct? Because gays and lesbians nurture their nieces and nephews in order to help their family grow. The bigger the family - the higher likelihood of having gay relatives.

A new study found that gay men may be predisposed to nurture their nieces and nephews as a way of helping to ensure their own genes get passed down to the next generation.