Challenges and Opportunities for Research on Same‐Sex Relationships
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12155 |
| Date | 01 February 2015 |
| Author | Rhiannon A. Kroeger,Debra Umberson,Minle Xu,Amy C. Lodge,Mieke Beth Thomeer |
| Published date | 01 February 2015 |
D U University of Texas at Austin
M B T University of Alabama at Birmingham∗
R A. K University of Texas at Austin∗∗
A C. L University of Texas at Austin∗∗∗
M X University of Texas at Austin∗∗∗∗
Challenges and Opportunities for Research
on Same-Sex Relationships
Research on same-sex relationships has
informed policy debates and legal decisions
that greatly affect American families, yet the
data and methods available to scholars studying
same-sex relationships have been limited. In this
article the authors review current approaches
to studying same-sex relationships and sig-
nicant challenges for this research. After
exploring how researchers have dealt with
these challenges in prior studies, the authors
Department of Sociology and Population Research Center,
University of Texas,305 E. 23rd St., Austin, TX 78712
(umberson@prc.utexas.edu).
∗Department of Sociology, Universityof Alabama at
Birmingham, HHB 460, 1720 2nd Ave. South,
Birmingham, AL 35294.
∗∗Department of Sociology and Population Research
Center, University of Texas, 305 E. 23rd St., Austin, TX
78712.
∗∗∗Texas Institute for Excellence in Mental Health, Center
for Social Work Research, School of Social Work,
University of Texas,1717 West 6th St., Ste. 335, Austin,
TX 78703.
∗∗∗∗Department of Sociology and Population Research
Center, University of Texas, 305 E. 23rd St., Austin, TX
78712.
Key Words: gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender; marriage
and close relationships; relationship processes.
discuss promising strategies and methods to
advance future research on same-sex rela-
tionships, with particular attention given to
gendered contexts and dyadic research designs,
quasi-experimental designs, and a relationship
biography approach. Innovation and advances
in the study of same-sex relationships will fur-
ther theoretical and empirical knowledge in
family studies more broadly and increaseunder-
standing of different-sex as well as same-sex
relationships.
One of the most high-stakes debates in the
United States today concerns whether and how
same-sex relationships inuence the health and
well-being of individuals, families, and even
society. Social scientists have conducted studies
that compare same- and different-sex relation-
ships across a range of outcomes (see reviews
in Peplau & Fingerhut, 2007; Rothblum, 2009),
and state and federal judiciaries have drawn on
this evidence to make critical legal decisions
that affect same-sex partners and their children
(e.g., American Sociological Association, 2013;
DeBoer v. Snyder, 2014; Hollingsworth v.Perry,
2013). Therefore, it is critical that family schol-
ars develop a scientically driven agenda to
advance a coordinated and informed program of
research in this area.
96 Journal of Marriage and Family 77 (February 2015): 96–111
DOI:10.1111/jomf.12155
Same-Sex Relationships 97
Advances in theory and research on marriage
and family are inherently shaped by the changing
contours of family life over time. For example,
during the past decade, increases in the num-
ber of people who cohabit outside of marriage
have been accompanied by vast improvement in
the methods and data used to study cohabiting
couples (Kroeger & Smock, 2014). A number
of factors point to similarly signicant advances
in data and research on same-sex relationships
in the near future. First, the number of indi-
viduals in same-sex unions is signicant; recent
data from the U.S. Census indicate that about
650,000 same-sex couples reside in the United
States, with 114,100 of those couples in legal
marriages and another 108,600 in some other
form of legally recognized partnership (Gates,
2013b). Second, the increasing number of states
that legally recognize same-sex marriage (nowat
19 states and the District of Columbia and likely
more by the time this article is published) and
the U.S. Supreme Court’sreversal of the Defense
of Marriage Act in 2013 suggest there will be
many more legally married same-sex couples in
the years ahead. Third, growing efforts by the
federal government to identify same-sex cou-
ples in U.S. Census counts and national surveys
(e.g., the National Health Interview Survey) and
to fund research on sexual minority populations
mean that researchers will have new sources of
data with which to study same-sex relationships
in the future.
We organize this article into three main
sections. First, we provide a brief overview of
current research and data on same-sex rela-
tionships, distinguishing between studies that
examine individuals in same-sex relationships
and those that examine same-sex couples
(i.e., dyads). These two approaches are often
conated, yet they address different kinds of
questions. For example, studies of individuals
can assess the health benets of being in a
same-sex relationship by comparing individuals
in same-sex relationships with individuals in
other relationship statuses, whereas a focus
on couples allows researchers to examine how
same-sex partners compare with different-sex
partners in inuencing each other’s health.
In the second section we consider common
methodological challenges encountered in
studies of same-sex relationships as well as
strategies for addressing these challenges,
with particular attention to identifying indi-
viduals in same-sex relationships and sample
size concerns, addressing gender and sexual
identity, recruiting respondents, and choosing
comparison groups for studies of same-sex
relationships. In the third section we discuss
promising strategies for future research on same-
sex relationships, with a focus on gendered rela-
tional contexts and dyadic research designs,
quasi-experimental designs, and a relationship
biography approach.
We hope that this article, by drawing on
multiple perspectives and methods in the study
of same-sex relationships, will advance future
research on same-sex unions. Although we
discuss details of specic studies, the present
article is not intended to be a comprehensive
review of research ndings on same-sex rela-
tionships; our primary focus is on data concerns
and methodological strategies. We refer read-
ers to several outstanding reviews of research
on same-sex relationships (see, e.g., Kurdek,
2005; Moore & Stambolis-Ruhstorfer, 2013;
Patterson, 2000; Peplau & Fingerhut, 2007;
Rothblum, 2009).
D M: G A
In the face of challenges to research on same-sex
relationships, including the past failure of fed-
erally supported data collections to include
measures that clearly identify same-sex rela-
tionships, scholars have been creative in data
collection and methodological strategies for
research. In most analyses that use probability
samples and quantitative methods, social sci-
entists analyze data from individuals in same-
sex relationships (e.g., Joyner, Manning, &
Bogle, 2013), but a number of nonprobability
studies (qualitative and quantitative) include
data from partners within couples (e.g., Moore,
2008; Totenhagen, Butler, & Ridley, 2012).
Both approaches are essential to advancing our
understanding of same-sex relationships.
Research on Individuals
Studies on individuals in same-sex relationships,
especially those in which nationally represen-
tative data are used, have been essential in
evaluating similarities and differences between
individuals in same-sex relationships and
different-sex relationships. For major data sets
that can be used to study individuals in same-sex
relationships, readers may turn to several
overviewsthat address s ample size and measures
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