PMID- 22888859
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20130422
LR  - 20211021
IS  - 1471-2458 (Electronic)
IS  - 1471-2458 (Linking)
VI  - 12
DP  - 2012 Aug 13
TI  - ACHESS--The Australian study of child health in same-sex families: background 
      research, design and methodology.
PG  - 646
LID - 10.1186/1471-2458-12-646 [doi]
AB  - BACKGROUND: There are an increasing number of children in Australia growing up 
      with same-sex attracted parents. Although children from same-sex parent families 
      do in general perform well on many psychosocial measures recent research is 
      beginning to consider some small but significant differences when these children 
      are compared with children from other family backgrounds. In particular studies 
      suggest that there is an association between the stigma that same-sex parent 
      families experience and child wellbeing. Research to date lacks a holistic view 
      with the complete physical, mental and social wellbeing of children not yet 
      addressed. In addition, most studies have focused only on families with lesbian 
      parents and have studied only small numbers of children. METHODS/DESIGN: The 
      Australian Study of Child Health in Same-Sex Families (ACHESS) is a national 
      study that aims to determine the complete physical, mental and social wellbeing 
      of Australian children under the age 18 years with at least one parent who self 
      identifies as being same-sex attracted. There will be a particular focus on the 
      impact that stigma and discrimination has on these families. Parent and child 
      surveys will be used to collect data and will be available both online and in 
      paper form. Measures have been chosen whenever possible that have sound 
      conceptual underpinnings, robust psychometric properties and Australian normative 
      data, and include the Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ), the Strengths and 
      Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale 
      (K10). DISCUSSION: ACHESS aims to be the largest study of its kind and will for 
      the first time produce a detailed quantitative analysis of Australian children 
      with same-sex attracted parents. By inviting participants to take part in further 
      research it will also establish a valuable cohort of children, and their 
      families, to launch future waves of research that will help us better understand 
      the health and wellbeing of children with same-sex attracted parents.
FAU - Crouch, Simon Robert
AU  - Crouch SR
AD  - The McCaughey Centre, Melbourne School of Population Health, The University of 
      Melbourne, Carlton, VIC 3053, Australia. simonrcrouch@hotmail.com
FAU - Waters, Elizabeth
AU  - Waters E
FAU - McNair, Ruth
AU  - McNair R
FAU - Power, Jennifer
AU  - Power J
FAU - Davis, Elise
AU  - Davis E
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
DEP - 20120813
PL  - England
TA  - BMC Public Health
JT  - BMC public health
JID - 100968562
SB  - IM
MH  - Adolescent
MH  - Australia/epidemiology
MH  - Child
MH  - Child Welfare/psychology/*statistics & numerical data
MH  - Child, Preschool
MH  - *Family/psychology
MH  - Female
MH  - Health Surveys
MH  - *Homosexuality/psychology/statistics & numerical data
MH  - Homosexuality, Female
MH  - Homosexuality, Male
MH  - Humans
MH  - Infant
MH  - Infant, Newborn
MH  - Male
MH  - Parents/*psychology
MH  - Sex Factors
MH  - Stereotyping
PMC - PMC3487744
EDAT- 2012/08/15 06:00
MHDA- 2013/04/23 06:00
PMCR- 2012/08/13
CRDT- 2012/08/15 06:00
PHST- 2012/08/09 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2012/08/09 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2012/08/15 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2012/08/15 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2013/04/23 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2012/08/13 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - 1471-2458-12-646 [pii]
AID - 10.1186/1471-2458-12-646 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - BMC Public Health. 2012 Aug 13;12:646. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-12-646.