Abstract We review methodological opportunities and lessons learned in conducting a longitudinal, prospective study of same-sex couples with civil unions, recruited from a population-based sample, who were compared with same-sex couples in their friendship circle who did not have civil unions, and heterosexual married siblings and their spouse. At Time 1 (2002), Vermont was the only US state to provide legal recognition similar to marriage to same-sex couples; couples came from other US states and other countries to obtain a civil union. At Time 2 (2005), only one US state had legalized same-sex marriage, and at Time 3 (2013) about half of US states had legalized same-sex marriage, some within weeks of the onset of the Time 3 study. Opportunities included sampling legalized same-sex relationships from a population; the use of heterosexual married couples and same-sex couples not in legalized relationships as comparison samples from within the same social network; comparisons between sexual minority and heterosexual women and men with and without children; improvements in statistical methods for non-independence of data and missing data; and the use of mixed methodologies. Lessons learned included obtaining funding, locating participants over time as technologies changed, and on-going shifts in marriage laws during the study.

中文翻译：

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研究最长的“合法”美国同性伴侣：一个经验教训

摘要我们回顾了从人口样本中对同性伴侣和同性伴侣进行纵向，前瞻性研究的方法学机会和经验教训，这些研究对象是在友谊圈中与没有同性伴侣的同性伴侣进行比较的以及异性恋已婚兄弟姐妹及其配偶。在时间1（2002），佛蒙特州是美国唯一向同性伴侣提供类似于婚姻的法律承认的州。来自美国其他州和其他国家的夫妇获得了公民联盟。在时间2（2005），只有一个美国州使同性婚姻合法化，而在时间3（2013），约有一半的美国州使同性婚姻合法化，其中一些州在时间3研究开始后的几周内。机会包括从人群中抽样合法的同性关系；使用没有合法关系的异性已婚夫妇和同性伴侣作为同一社交网络中的比较样本；性少数群体与异性恋妇女与有子女和无子女的男人之间的比较；非数据独立和缺失数据统计方法的改进；以及混合方法的使用。获得的经验教训包括获得资金，随着技术的变化随着时间的推移确定参与者的位置，以及研究期间婚姻法的不断变化。