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Social versus Biological Parenting: Family Functioning and the Socioemotional Development of Children Conceived by Egg or Sperm Donation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 1999

Susan Golombok
Affiliation:
City University, London, U.K.
Clare Murray
Affiliation:
City University, London, U.K.
Peter Brinsden
Affiliation:
Bourn Hall Clinic, Cambridge, U.K.
Hossam Abdalla
Affiliation:
Lister Hospital, London, U.K.
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Abstract

By investigating egg donation families, donor insemination families, adoptive families, and families created by in vitro fertilization, the aim of the present study was to examine parents' emotional well-being, the quality of parenting, and childrens' socioemotional development in families with a child who is genetically unrelated to the mother or the father. The differences that were found to exist between families according to the presence or absence of genetic ties between parents and their children reflected greater psychological well-being among mothers and fathers in families where there was no genetic link between the mother and the child. The families did not differ with respect to the quality of parenting or the psychological adjustment of the child.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1999 Association for Child Psychology and Psychiatry

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