Parents’ sexuality affects adoption

Gay men are more likely than others, and heterosexual men are least likely, to have a gender preference when adopting a child, U.S. researchers said.

Study author Dr. Abbie Goldberg of Clark University studied adoptive parents’ child gender preferences in a geographically diverse American sample of 93 heterosexual, 61 lesbian and 48 gay male couples waiting to adopt their first child.

Many couples, irrespective of sexuality, had no preference for the gender of their adopted child and were grateful to have a child. Among those who expressed a preference, gay men were the most likely to have a preference and heterosexual men were the least likely.

Couples in heterosexual relationships were less likely to prefer boys than couples in same-gender relationships.

The study participants provided a range of reasons for their preferences for girls. The most common reason among heterosexual women was their inexplicable desire for a daughter, whereas heterosexual men most frequently listed a combination of their inexplicable desire to have a girl, their ideas about father-daughter relationships and their perceived characteristics of girls.

The study, published in the journal Sex Roles, found men felt girls would be easier to bring up, more interesting and complex than boys, and less physically challenging than boys, the study said.

The study also found that lesbians tended to focus on their perceived inability to socialize a child of the opposite gender, and gay men most frequently cited concerns about boys being more likely to encounter harassment than girls.