Family diversity: single-parent families and homoparental families
The best known distinction is heteroparental, homoparental and single-parent family depending on the biological sex of the parents.
In the heteroparental family, the parents of the same, are of different sex, that is, male and female.
In the homoparental family, the parents are formed by a couple of the same sex (two women or two men) and have one or more children in common.
The single-parent family is formed by a single parent or a single mother with one or more children. Within this model, single mothers are chosen by choice, being relatively new and quite unknown even in our society this form of maternity chosen, that is, that voluntarily, sought, decided and desired a group of women, choose this way of access to motherhood.
What is the psychological impact of these forms of family diversity?
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The case of single-parent families
A study, conducted by researchers at the University of Amsterdam, found that there were no significant differences in children's well-being and behavior or parental stress among heteroparent and single-parent families.
The academics observed 69 single mothers who had deliberately chosen to take care of raising their children alone, and 59 mothers of two-parent heterosexual families with a child between 18 months and six years.
The majority of women and single mothers by choice in the study were economically stable, had received a higher education, financial solvency, and had significant relationships with their partners in the past. Emotional balance and resolutive capacity .
"The children of both family models evolve and stay well in terms of well-being," said researcher Mathilde Brewaeys in a press release from the study. "Single mothers by their own choice and their children they benefit from a good social support network , and this should be highlighted in the counseling of women who want to have and raise a child without a partner ".
Previously, some studies have found that single-parent households reflected lower results due to stressors and coping factors that affected children without a father figure, and could have an unfavorable impact on their behavior, in these cases there could be differences such as teenage pregnancies , unwanted pregnancies, low economic resources, lack of family support, among other factors.
With this, this latest research, presented in Geneva, shows that Children of single mothers are not more likely to show signs of behavioral disorders than their counterparts educated in traditional families. Children with families of single mothers by choice have the same result in all areas as those in families with two heterosexual or homosexual parents.
Brewaeys added that the incorrect assumption that growing up without a father is bad for children is simply based on the investigation of divorced families who have experienced conflicts . "Most likely any negative influence on child development depends more on a problematic relationship between parents and children and not on the absence of a father," she said. "Single mothers by choice consciously make the decision to raise their children alone. "
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The case of homoparental families
A book by the American Academy of Pediatrics entitled Technical Report: Coparent or Second-Parent Adoption by Same-Sex Parents ("Technical report: Adoption of father or mother or father for the second time by same-sex pardres") indicates that children who grow up with homosexual mothers or fathers, they have the same emotional, cognitive, social and sexual balance as children whose parents are heterosexual .
There are those who point out that children of homosexual families have a higher risk of addiction and / or delinquency. In the research called Delinquency, victimization, and substance use among adolescents with female same-sex parents They examined precisely this approach, and the results indicated that the adolescent children showed positive results in emotional and cognitive evolution. These factors were not related to the family model.
Teens who showed a closer relationship with their parents they manifested less criminal behavior and low or no substance use, which indicates that the quality of adolescents' relationships with parents / mothers / fathers are the indicators that predict the objective and precise results in emotional development and not being the model of family in which they live.
conclusion
Although the methodological challenges are enormous to face such complex and multifactorial phenomena as the results of the children's long-term psychosocial development, the collected literature of decades and research, as a whole, offers solid guarantees of reliability and validity. the welfare of children raised by parents of the same sex or a single parent.
Once again we find the scientific evidence, from the empirical results, allowing us understand, approach and be able to unite more from the diversity . As Newton said "unity is variety, and variety in unity is the supreme law of the universe."
I hope that this article allows us to be even more aware of this reality, today's society is characterized by the power of choice, providing great wealth, from the values and security that involves the knowledge that a family is being created (without labels) from just and sincere principles, from not stigmatizing or labeling , since this last part of the ignorance and the prejudices. But to continue, from understanding the true meaning of the family, to unite more, starting from the differences, from what we share, which makes us equal and different, unique and valuable, from the commitment and consensus for emotional and cognitive development balancing children, from the basic but simple principle of love that is what unites and characterizes every family, regardless of the model or name that accompanies this term, and not from the conflict that separates it.
"There is no such thing as 'a broken family'. The family is the family and is not determined by marriage certificates, divorce documents and adoption documents. Families are made in the heart "; C. JoyBell C.
