Same-sex Family Structures and Child Health: The Role of Family Resources

同性家庭结构与儿童健康：家庭资源的作用

• 批准号: 8772465
• 负责人: Hui Liu
• 金额: $ 9.41万
• 依托单位: OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-08-15 至 2016-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8772465
• 关键词: Accounting; Adult; Advanced Development; Affect; Age; Area; Characteristics; Child; Child Health Services; Child Mental Health; Child health care; Communities; Consensus Development; Critiques; Data; Data Set; Data Sources; Dimensions; Disadvantaged; Discrimination; Effectiveness; Family; Family Practice; Foundations; Future; Gender; Government Agencies; Health; Health Policy; Health behavior; Institutes; Interview; Investigation; Laws; Length; Life; Measures; Mental Health; Methods; Minority; Mission; National Health Interview Survey; Outcome; Parenting behavior; Parents; Personal Satisfaction; Play; Policies; Population; Public Health; Public Policy; Race; Relative (related person); Reporting; Research; Resources; Role; Sampling; Shapes; Single-Parent Family; Social Conditions; Socioeconomic Status; Stress; Structure; Surveys; Testing; base; design; experience; family influence; family structure; improved; innovation; physical conditioning; population based; public health relevance; sex; sexual minority; social; social capital; social stigma; socioeconomics; trend

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The well-being of children in same-sex families is debated in contemporary policy, law, and public realms. Yet, due to data and methodological limitations, we know relatively little about the mental and physical health of the approximately 220,000 children who live in same-sex families. Additionally, research on different-sex families shows that family resources are a central mechanism shaping child health, yet the role of family resources has gone unexamined in research on same-sex families. There is urgent need to resolve the question of the basic relationship between same-sex family structure, resources, and child health because the current state of in- conclusive research in this area may result in ineffective, misguided, or harmful public policy that reduce the effectiveness of initiatives aimed to promote optimal child health as well as undermine future scientific research in this area. The overall objective for this proposed project is to determine the population-level relationship between same-sex family structures, family resources, and child health. Our central hypotheses are that children residing in same-sex married and cohabiting families will experience worse health when compared to different- sex married families due to same-sex family's lower levels of family resources; children in same-sex families will experience similar health when compared to different-sex cohabiting and single-parent families due to similar access to family resources. The rationale that underlies the proposed research is that the development of consensus regarding the relationship between same-sex family structures, resources, and child health will direct future definitive research and public policy on the underlying contributors to optimal child health. The central hypothesis will be tested by analyzing pooled cross-sectional nationally representative data from the 1997- 2012 waves of the Integrated National Health Interview Surveys in pursuit of the following specific aims: Aim 1. Examine differences in children's physical and mental health across same-sex married, same-sex cohabiting, different-sex married, different-sex cohabiting, and single-parent family structures. Aim 2. Examine the role of family resources (i.e., socioeconomic, parent health and health behavior) in contributing to child health differences across family structure. Results are expected to be significant by filling a fundamental gap in our under- standing of the relationship between same-sex families and child health with reliable and valid nationally- representative population-based data. The proposed research is innovative because it takes a substantial departure from previous research by utilizing 1) national population-based data, 2) reliable and valid measures of same-sex married and cohabiting families, 3) comprehensive measures of family resources, and 4) multiple dimensions of child health. Results from this proposed study are expected to provide the focus for, and support the feasibility of, a subsequent mixed-methods longitudinal R01 proposal that will examine how demographic (e.g., race), relational (e.g., family transitions, length and quality), contextual (e.g., community resources),and selection characteristics determine child health in same-sex family structures.

描述（由申请人提供）：同性家庭儿童的福祉在当代政策、法律和公共领域备受争议。然而，由于数据和方法的限制，我们对生活在同性家庭中的大约22万名儿童的心理和身体健康知之甚少。此外，对不同性别家庭的研究表明，家庭资源是塑造儿童健康的核心机制，但在同性家庭的研究中，家庭资源的作用尚未得到检验。迫切需要解决同性家庭结构、资源和儿童健康之间的基本关系问题，因为目前在这一领域的未结论性研究状态可能导致无效、误导或有害的公共政策，从而降低旨在实施的举措的有效性