The Number of Children Being Raised by Gay or Lesbian Parents

17 Pages Posted: 1 Oct 2014

See all articles by Corbin Miller

Corbin Miller

U.S. Department of the Treasury

Joseph Price

Brigham Young University

Date Written: September 16, 2014

Abstract

An important first step in research on gay or lesbian parenting includes accurately documenting the number of children who are being raised by gay or lesbian parents. US census data can provide accurate estimates of the number of children being raised by same-sex couples, but children being raised by gay or lesbian single parents cannot be identified in this data. We use self-reported sexual orientation data from 9,197 respondents of the National Survey of Family Growth to calculate the number of children being raised by a gay or lesbian parent. We find that about 240,000 children in the US are being raised by a gay or lesbian parent (about a third of which are single parents). This estimate is significantly lower than previous estimates, due largely to how we categorize parents who report being bisexual.

Keywords: same-sex parenting, gay, lesbian, family structure, census, population

Suggested Citation

Miller, Corbin and Price, Joseph, The Number of Children Being Raised by Gay or Lesbian Parents (September 16, 2014). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2497095 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2497095

Corbin Miller

U.S. Department of the Treasury ( email )

1500 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20220
United States

Joseph Price (Contact Author)

Brigham Young University ( email )

130 FOB
Provo, UT 84604
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://economics.byu.edu/directory/joseph-p-price

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