Challenges and Opportunities for Research on Same‐Sex Relationships
2015/01/14 by Debra Umberson, Mieke Beth Thomeer, Rhiannon A. Kroeger +2 · 145 citations
Medicine · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Affect (linguistics) #Empirical research #Epistemology #Family Dynamics and Relationships #LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy #Psychology #Reproductive Health and Technologies #Social psychology #Sociology
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/jomf.12155
published in Journal of Marriage and the Family 77(1), 96-111 (Wiley)
openalex publication_date 2015/01/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Abstract
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 significant challenges for this research. After exploring how researchers have dealt with these challenges in prior studies, the authors discuss promising strategies and methods to advance future research on same-sex relationships, 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 further theoretical and empirical knowledge in family studies more broadly and increase understanding of different-sex as well as same-sex relationships.
Citations
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