In studies of gay and lesbian family lifestyles, which option is NOT identified as one of the patterns?

• A. the stepfather family
• B. the co-parent family
• C. the stepmother family
• D. the co-mother family

Answer: (A)

In studies of gay and lesbian family lifestyles, researchers map how parenting is actually arranged within these households. The patterns commonly identified focus on how two parents share parenting roles and how step-relationships come into play in same-sex family structures. A stepfather arrangement isn’t typically described as a standard pattern in this literature, because the configurations they emphasize center on two mothers sharing parenting (stepmother family) or two parents sharing parenting (co-parent family), as well as scenarios where both partners are parents (co-mother or co-father patterns). Therefore, the stepfather family is the one not identified as a common pattern.