High school graduation rates among children of same-sex households

Douglas W. Allen

doi:10.1007/s11150-013-9220-y

Review of Economics of the Household

December 2013, Volume 11, Issue 4, pp 635–658

High school graduation rates among children of same-sex households

Authors
Authors and affiliations

Douglas W. AllenEmail author

Article

First Online:: 26 September 2013

Received:: 07 November 2012
Accepted:: 23 August 2013

DOI: 10.1007/s11150-013-9220-y

Cite this article as:: Allen, D.W. Rev Econ Household (2013) 11: 635. doi:10.1007/s11150-013-9220-y

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Abstract

Almost all studies of same-sex parenting have concluded there is “no difference” in a range of outcome measures for children who live in a household with same-sex parents compared to children living with married opposite-sex parents. Recently, some work based on the US census has suggested otherwise, but those studies have considerable drawbacks. Here, a 20 % sample of the 2006 Canada census is used to identify self-reported children living with same-sex parents, and to examine the association of household type with children’s high school graduation rates. This large random sample allows for control of parental marital status, distinguishes between gay and lesbian families, and is large enough to evaluate differences in gender between parents and children. Children living with gay and lesbian families in 2006 were about 65 % as likely to graduate compared to children living in opposite sex marriage families. Daughters of same-sex parents do considerably worse than sons.

Keywords

Same sex households Same sex parents High school graduation

JEL Classification

I21 J12 J16

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Douglas W. Allen
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1.Department of EconomicsSimon Fraser UniversityBurnabyCanada

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High school graduation rates among children of same-sex households

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