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

描述（由申请人提供）：同性家庭中儿童的福祉在当代政策，法律和公共领域中进行了辩论。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22万儿童的身心健康状况知之甚少。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，但在对同性家庭的研究中，家庭资源的作用尚未得到审查。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非结论性研究可能导致无效、误导或有害的公共政策，从而降低旨在促进儿童健康的举措的有效性。 促进最佳儿童健康以及破坏该领域未来的科学研究。这个拟议项目的总体目标是确定同性家庭结构、家庭资源和儿童健康之间的人口水平关系。我们的中心假设是，由于同性家庭的家庭资源水平较低，居住在同性婚姻和同居家庭中的儿童与异性婚姻家庭相比将经历更差的健康状况;由于获得家庭资源的相似性，同性家庭中的儿童与异性同居和单亲家庭相比将经历相似的健康状况。提出这项研究的理由是，关于同性家庭结构、资源和儿童健康之间关系的共识的发展将指导未来关于最佳儿童健康的潜在贡献者的明确研究和公共政策。 健康中心假设将通过分析1997- 2012年综合国民健康访谈调查的汇总横截面全国代表性数据进行检验，以实现以下具体目标：目标1。研究同性婚姻、同性同居、异性婚姻、异性同居和单亲家庭结构中儿童身心健康的差异。目标2.研究家庭资源的作用（即，社会经济、父母健康和健康行为）对不同家庭结构儿童健康差异的影响。通过填补我们对同性家庭和儿童健康之间关系的理解的根本空白，并利用可靠和有效的全国代表性人口数据，预计结果将是显著的。这项研究具有创新性，因为它与以前的研究有很大的不同，利用了1）全国人口数据，2）同性婚姻和同居家庭的可靠和有效措施，3）家庭资源的综合措施，以及4）儿童健康的多个维度。这项拟议研究的结果预计将为随后的混合方法纵向R 01提案提供重点，并支持其可行性，该提案将研究人口统计学（例如，种族），关系（例如，族转换、长度和质量），上下文（例如，社区资源）和选择特征决定了同性家庭结构中的儿童健康。

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.