PSY 399 Chapter Notes - Chapter 12: Gamete, Multiple Dispatch, Heredity
9 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Class 12: May 9
Golombok,
Parenting in new
family forms.
Current opinion in
psychology
Families Created by Assisted Reproductive Technologies
● IVF involves fertilization of mother’s egg with father’s sperm
○ In laboratory and the transfer of the resulting embryo(s) to
mother’s womb
● Children born through egg donation lack a genetic link to their
mother
○ Children born through sperm donation (donor
insemination) lack a genetic connection to their father
● With embryo donation, both the egg and sperm are donated and
neither parent is genetically related to the child.
○ Surrogacy: a woman hosting a pregnancy for another
woman and kids lack a gestational link to mother.
● Findings indicate more positive parent–child relationships in
these families when the children were in their preschool years
○ Children themselves showed high levels of psychological
adjustment
● Even during middle school when awareness of biological
inheritance begins, families continue to function well
○ Reproductive donation families no longer showed more
positive parent–child relationships
● By adolescence, mothers in surrogacy families showed less
negative parenting
○ Reported greater acceptance of their adolescent children
● Fewer problems in family relationships as a whole compared to
gamete donation mothers
○ Gamete donation families, less positive relationships
● Parents and children search for information about, and desire
contact with, their sperm donor
○ Not known, as yet, whether families formed through egg
donation are similarly interested in their egg donor.
Families with Same-Sex Parents
● Lesbian mothers are just as likely to have good mental health and
to have positive relationships with their children
○ Children are no more likely to show adjustment
difficulties, poor performance at school or atypical
gender-role behavior
● Gay fathers may be exposed to greater stigmatization regarding
their sexual identity than are lesbian mothers
○ Fathers are generally believed to be less suited to
parenting than are mothers
● Gay fathers who are primary caregivers may respond similarly to
both heterosexual mothers and fathers.
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○ Both typical areas of the brain have increases
● Preschool children adopted in infancy by gay fathers to be as
well- adjusted as those adopted by lesbian or straight parents
○ Gay couples were rated as less supportive of the other
parent, but also as less undermining
● More positive parental well being and parent–child relationships,
lower levels of children’s externalizing problems
○ Adoptive gay fathers were less likely to dissolve their
relationship in the first 5 years of parenthood
● Recently, study of variation within same-sex parent families
○ Particularly to influence of parenting on children’s
adjustment
● Psychological well-being of same-sex parents have all been
associated with children’s psychological adjustment, including:
○ Quality of the couple’s relationship
○ Quality of parenting experienced by children
○ Stigmatization of the family
● Stigmatization of same-sex parent families arising from parents’
sexual orientation has been associated with:
○ Emotional and behavioral problems in children
● Can be helped by contact with other children with same-sex
parents, positive relationships with parents, peers and extended
family, supportive schools and communities
○ As well as legislation that is conducive to the optimal
functioning of same-sex parent families
● Same-sex parent families have found lesbian and gay parents to
share parenting more equally than do heterosexual parents
○ Level of involvement in school appears to be dependent
on their acceptance by other parents
● No differences in adolescent adjustment to sperm donation
according to the type of donor used
○ Found mothers to be generally satisfied with their choice
of a known, identifiable or anonymous donor
● Qualitative study of kids conceived using known sperm donors
identified variation in how the donor was perceived
○ Some viewed him strictly as a donor and not as a member
of their family
○ Others saw him as a member of their extended family but
not as a parent
○ Others saw him as a father
Single Mothers by Choice
● Increasing number of single women are choosing to parent alone
and have children through donor insemination
○ Often referred to as “single mothers by choice” or “solo
mothers”
● Have not experienced marital conflict and are less likely to have
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Document Summary
Ivf involves fertilization of mother"s egg with father"s sperm. In laboratory and the transfer of the resulting embryo(s) to mother"s womb. Children born through egg donation lack a genetic link to their mother. Children born through sperm donation (donor insemination) lack a genetic connection to their father. With embryo donation, both the egg and sperm are donated and neither parent is genetically related to the child. Surrogacy: a woman hosting a pregnancy for another woman and kids lack a gestational link to mother. Findings indicate more positive parent child relationships in these families when the children were in their preschool years. Children themselves showed high levels of psychological adjustment. Even during middle school when awareness of biological inheritance begins, families continue to function well. Reproductive donation families no longer showed more positive parent child relationships. By adolescence, mothers in surrogacy families showed less negative parenting. Reported greater acceptance of their adolescent children.
