Same-Sex Parents Spend More Time With Their Children Than Straight Couples

Raising children demands time and effort. A new research revealed that children raised by same-sex couples receive more parental attention than their peers raised by heterosexual couples. The findings suggest that on an average, same sex couples daily spend an hour more with their children than straight couples. Study author Kate Prickett from University of Texas at Austin in the US said, "Our study suggests that children with two-parents-of-the-same-sex families received more focused time from their parents - 3.5 hours a day, compared with 2.5 hours by children with different-sex parents."

In families with two mothers, where parents spend on average 40% more time on child-focused activities than straight couples, the difference is most pronounced. This could possibly be because both mothers generally offer as much child-focused activity as mothers in heterosexual partnerships. Men with female partners were found to spend only around half as much time with their kids. However, fathers in same-sex relationships spend roughly the same time as the mothers, doubling the time typically provided by heterosexual dads.

Prickett said, "Our findings support the argument that parental investment in children is at least as great - and possibly greater - in same-sex couples as for different-sex couples."

For the study, researchers analyzed how US parents spend their time. They took into account tasks such as reading, playing, helping with homework, bath time, and doctor's appointments, while avoiding passive activities such as watching television, or doing housework while a child was around. The study used data provided by the American Time Use Surveys, a nationally representative time-diary survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, over a period of 11 years from 2003 through 2013, with a sample of over 40,000 parents, which included 55 parents in same-sex relationships.

The findings appeared in Demography.

Source-IANS