Australian children of same-sex couples fare better on average than families from the general population on a number of key measures of health and family cohesion, according to new research from the University of Melbourne.

Lead researcher, Dr Simon Crouch, said that the early findings suggested that Australian children with same-sex attracted parents were developing well.

These children are growing up in a range of contexts and score well on measures of health and wellbeing in the face of discrimination,” he said.

Early findings taken from the global index the Child Health Questionnaire, measured the health of the children across a number of domains including physical activity, mental health and behavior. Children with same-sex attracted parents were seen to score particularly well in the domains of general health and family cohesion.

The Australian Study of Child Health in Same-Sex Families (ACHESS) involved 500 children aged two months to 17 years from 315 parents. The parents described a range of sexual orientations including homosexual, gay, lesbian, bisexual and queer, and were from all states around Australian except the Northern Territory.

Interim results revealed:

  • Children aged five to 17 years with same-sex attracted parents showed a significantly better score on general health and family cohesion when compared to Australian children from all backgrounds and family contexts. 
  • For all other health measures there were no statistically significant differences
  • 80 per cent of respondents were female parents and 18 per cent were male parent, with two per cent of parents being of other gender.
  • Ninety-three per cent of parents are currently in a relationship.
  • Australian children with same-sex attracted parents and their families continue to face discrimination in a variety of contexts.