Collaborative Research: Social and Biogenetic Factors of New Forms of Families

这项研究探讨了与不孕症治疗和社交媒体相关的社会和技术发展之间的关系。首先，它调查了共享同一个卵子或精子捐赠者的孩子之间以及这些“捐赠者兄弟姐妹”的父母（和其他亲属）之间出现的新型关系。“第二，它探讨了人们认为他们的基因对理解他们与他人的关系有多重要。这种探索的重点是人们对基因塑造和限制我们的特征和生活结果的信念。拟议的研究将增加社会学的理论和实践知识，两组相关的问题：1）如何以及为什么新形式的亲属关系在当今世界中被创造和维持; 2）个人如何理解社会和生物遗传影响对个人行为和家庭动态的贡献。 这些问题将在不同家庭类型的人，不同地理区域的人以及代表不同社会，经济和种族/民族群体的人中进行探讨。该研究基于在线调查，这些调查分发给通过配子怀孕的父母以及通过配子怀孕的青少年和成年人。从这些调查中获得的信息将用于确定适合进行深入访谈的人，并为研究人员从这些访谈中了解到的情况提供背景。这些访谈将涉及来自各种家庭类型、地区和社会地位的父母和儿童。这项研究对家庭和住户发展有许多更广泛的影响。它还将提供对考虑和根据家族健康史采取行动的新概念的深入了解。除了学术出版外，调查人员还将加强自己关于家庭社会学的教学，并计划设计关于这一主题的特殊材料，供相关领域的其他教师使用。米德尔伯里学院和韦尔斯利学院的本科生也将参与这项研究。

This research explores the relationship between the social and technological developments associated with infertility treatment and social media. First, it investigates the new kinds of relationships that emerge among children who share the same egg or sperm donor, and among the parents (and other relatives) of these "donor siblings." Second, it explores how important people think their genes are to understanding their relationships to other people. This exploration focuses on people's beliefs about how much genes shape and limit our characteristics and life outcomes. The proposed research will add to Sociology's theories of, and practical knowledge about, two related sets of issues: 1) how and why new forms of kinship are created and sustained in today's world; and 2) how individuals understand what social and biogenetic influences contribute to individual behavior and family dynamics. These issues will be explored among people who are part of various family types, people in different geographic regions, and people who represent different social, economic, and racial/ethnic groups.The research is based on online surveys distributed to parents who have children conceived through gametes and to teens and adults who were conceived through gametes. The information from these surveys will be used to identify people who are appropriate for in-depth interviews and to provide background for what the researchers learn from those interviews. These interviews will involve parents and children from a range of family types, regions, and social positions. This research has many broader impacts related to family and household development. It will also provide insight into new notions of considering and acting upon familial health histories. In additional to academic publishing, the investigators will enhance their own teaching about the sociology of the family and plan to design special materials about this topic that others who teach in relevant fields can adapt for their own use. Undergraduates at both Middlebury College and Wellesley College also will be involved in the research.