Perry Nicholas S, Lee Jenny, Rhoades Galena K
Department of Psychology, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado, USA.
Fam Process. 2025 Mar;64(1):e13065. doi: 10.1111/famp.13065. Epub 2024 Oct 8.
In 2015, the United States Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, setting in motion a sweeping social change for sexual minority people and their romantic relationships. The United States Census Bureau collects demographic data on same-sex couple households, offering an opportunity to better understand the demographic makeup of same-sex marriage today. This knowledge is essential for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers who aim to understand and support same-sex couples' relationships. We used national probability data from the American Community Survey collected in 2021 (the most recent year these data are available) on married and unmarried, cohabiting same-sex and opposite-sex households. Respondents reported their own age, race, ethnicity, education, employment, income, home ownership, and whether they had children living with them in their household. Differences between married and unmarried opposite-sex couples were observed in race, ethnicity, age, and socioeconomic status, consistent with prior research. Many of these demographic gaps also existed for same-sex couples, although these were often smaller. Several of these differences further varied between male and female same-sex couples. Same-sex married couples appear to be more demographically diverse than opposite-sex married couples. However, like opposite-sex couples, same-sex couples from multiple minoritized groups were less likely to be married. Future research is needed to understand drivers of these differences (e.g., different attitudes about marriage or lack of access to marriage) and their impact. Policymakers and clinicians will need to bear these group differences in mind when designing policy and delivering services to support the well-being of sexual minority couples.
2015年，美国最高法院使同性婚姻在全国合法化，引发了一场针对性少数群体及其恋爱关系的全面社会变革。美国人口普查局收集了有关同性伴侣家庭的人口数据，为更好地了解当今同性婚姻的人口构成提供了契机。对于旨在理解和支持同性伴侣关系的研究人员、从业者和政策制定者而言，这些信息至关重要。我们使用了2021年（可获取这些数据的最近一年）美国社区调查的全国概率数据，涉及已婚和未婚、同居的同性和异性家庭。受访者报告了自己的年龄、种族、族裔、教育程度、就业情况、收入、住房所有权，以及家中是否有与他们同住的子女。在种族、族裔、年龄和社会经济地位方面，观察到已婚和未婚异性伴侣之间存在差异，这与先前的研究一致。同性伴侣之间也存在许多此类人口差距，尽管这些差距通常较小。其中一些差异在男同性恋伴侣和女同性恋伴侣之间进一步有所不同。同性已婚伴侣在人口构成上似乎比异性已婚伴侣更加多样化。然而，与异性伴侣一样，来自多个少数群体的同性伴侣结婚的可能性较小。需要开展进一步研究，以了解这些差异的驱动因素（例如，对婚姻的不同态度或无法结婚）及其影响。政策制定者和临床医生在设计政策和提供服务以支持性少数伴侣的福祉时，需要牢记这些群体差异。
