A study published in the journal Social Science Research has challenged the idea that children raised by gay or lesbian couples are at no particular disadvantage than children raised by a heterosexual couples.

The study by Dr. Loren Marks from Louisiana State University says that the debate over whether same-sex parents are good or bad for the socio-psychological development of child remains despite American Psychological Association APA's study.

"The jury is still out on whether being raised by same-sex parents disadvantages children," explains Marks. "However, the available data on which the APA draws its conclusions, derived primarily from small convenience samples, are insufficient to support a strong generalized claim either way."

The review study by APA said that children raised by same sex couples are at no disadvantage than other children who have been raised by parents of opposite sex.

The study by Professor Mark Regnerus is based on data obtained by New Family Structures Study (NFSS). The NFSS data has information about young adults who are raised in different family structures.

Dr. Regnerus says that he found differences between children of heterosexual married women and children raised by women who've had a lesbian relationship.

"This study, based on a rare large probability sample, reveals far greater diversity in the experience of lesbian motherhood (and to a lesser extent, gay fatherhood) than has been previously acknowledged or understood. The most significant story in this study is arguably that children appear most apt to succeed well as adults when they spend their entire childhood with their married mother and father, and especially when the parents remain married to the present day," said Professor Mark Regnerus.

The study found that the children raised by lesbian mothers most likely grow up with many problems including low income levels, poor mental and physical growth and a criminal tendency.

Many researchers have published their views on the study.

"Children of lesbian mothers might have lived in many different family structures and it is impossible to isolate the effects of living with a lesbian mother from experiencing divorce, remarriage, or living with a single parent. Or, it is quite possible, that the effect derives entirely from the stigma attached to such relationships and to the legal prohibitions that prevent same-sex couples from entering and maintaining 'normal relationships'," said Professor Cynthia Osborne from the University of Texas at Austin.

"If growing up with gay and lesbian parents were catastrophic for children, even studies based on small convenience samples would have shown this by now […] If differences exist between children with gay/lesbian and heterosexual parents, they are likely to be small or moderate in magnitude—perhaps comparable to those revealed in the research literature on children and divorce," said Paul Amato, sociologist from Pennsylvania State University.