Table 1.
Characteristics of Sampled Children, Ages 4 to 17 Years, and Their Sampled Parent, by Parental Sexual Orientation, 2013–2015 National Health Interview Survey
| Characteristics | Lesbian or Gay Parent (n = 149) | Bisexual Parent (n = 147) | Heterosexual Parent (n = 20,807) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | (SE) | % | (SE) | % | (SE) | p1 | |
| Child characteristics | |||||||
| Gender | .77 | ||||||
| Male | 48.4 | (4.7) | 47.8 | (5.5) | 50.8 | (0.5) | |
| Female | 51.6 | (4.7) | 52.2 | (5.5) | 49.2 | (0.5) | |
| Age, in years | .05 | ||||||
| 4–11 | 46.1 | (4.9) | 64.0 | (5.8) | 57.4 | (0.5) | |
| 12–17 | 53.9 | (4.9) | 36.0 | (5.8) | 42.6 | (0.5) | |
| Race or ethnicity | .71 | ||||||
| Other | 47.6 | (5.4) | 41.1 | (5.5) | 44.4 | (0.6) | |
| Non-Hispanic White | 52.4 | (5.4) | 58.9 | (5.5) | 55.6 | (0.6) | |
| Sampled parent and family characteristics | |||||||
| Parental gender | <.0001 | ||||||
| Male | 23.1 | (4.0) | 13.5 | (3.4) | 39.6 | (0.4) | |
| Female | 76.9 | (4.0) | 86.5 | (3.4) | 60.4 | (0.4) | |
| Parental educational attainment | .42 | ||||||
| High school or less | 31.2 | (5.3) | 37.3 | (5.3) | 38.0 | (0.5) | |
| Some college or more | 68.8 | (5.3) | 62.7 | (5.3) | 62.0 | (0.5) | |
| Number of parents living in household | <.0001 | ||||||
| 1 parent in household | 47.3 | (5.5) | 60.7 | (5.2) | 29.0 | (0.5) | |
| 2 parents in household | 52.7 | (5.5) | 39.3 | (5.2) | 71.0 | (0.5) | |
| Region of residence | .68 | ||||||
| Northeast | 17.2 | (3.6) | 10.5 | (3.0) | 14.7 | (0.4) | |
| Midwest | 22.6 | (4.5) | 28.5 | (5.3) | 23.7 | (0.5) | |
| South | 30.3 | (5.1) | 40.6 | (5.7) | 37.9 | (0.6) | |
| West | 20.0 | (4.0) | 20.3 | (4.3) | 23.8 | (0.4) | |
| Parental distress, past 30 days | .02 | ||||||
| K-6 score2 below 13 | 97.0 | (1.3) | 79.0 | (5.4) | 96.5 | (0.2) | |
| K-6 score 13 or above | 3.1 | (1.3) | 21.0 | (5.4) | 3.5 | (0.2) | |
| Child informant | .02 | ||||||
| Other family member | 43.2 | (5.3) | 23.0 | (5.1) | 34.4 | (0.4) | |
| Sampled parent | 56.8 | (5.3) | 77.0 | (5.1) | 65.6 | (0.4) | |
Note: Weighted percent and standard error (SE) are displayed
1
Statistical significance evaluated by Wald χ2 tests.
2
Distress was assessed in NHIS using the K-6 Distress Scale (Kessler et al., 2002), a validated instrument for measuring nonspecific psychological distress.