Shared biological motherhood: Parent-child relationships and child adjustment in lesbian mother families formed through partner-donated eggs

20世纪80年代，辅助生殖技术的发展使捐赠者人工授精成为女同性恋妇女为人父母的一种新途径。在这些女同性恋母亲家庭中，怀孕的母亲与孩子有血缘关系，而另一位母亲则没有。2010年，女同性恋夫妇开始通过共同的生物育儿方式生孩子，即一个女人的卵子用捐赠的精子创造一个胚胎，另一个女人怀孕，这一过程使两位母亲都能与她们的孩子有生物学上的联系。提供卵子的母亲有遗传联系，而怀孕的母亲有妊娠联系。这项拟议研究的目的是在世界范围内对母子关系和通过共同的生物母亲出生的儿童的心理调整进行第一次研究。这项研究将为以这种新的方式组成的家庭中的父母和孩子的结果提供经验数据。这项研究还将提供一个机会，检查儿童与其母亲之间的遗传和妊娠关系在发展安全的依恋关系方面的相对重要性。这项研究将解决的最重要的研究问题是，对于母亲之间的联系以及孩子和母亲之间安全的依恋关系的发展，基因联系和妊娠联系哪一个更重要。这项研究还将研究，与捐赠者授精组成的女同性恋母亲家庭相比，共同的生物母亲身份是否会带来更积极的母亲心理健康、更积极的伴侣关系和更积极的儿童适应。通过分享母亲身份创建的50个女同性恋母亲家庭将与通过捐赠者人工授精(有一位亲生母亲和一位社会母亲)形成的50个女同性恋母亲家庭和通过试管受精形成的50个异性恋母亲家庭进行比较，以提供来自传统家庭的母亲对照组，控制辅助受孕的使用和父母的在场。孩子们的年龄在3到6岁之间。父母的心理健康和关系将分别使用特质焦虑量表、爱丁堡抑郁量表、育儿压力指数和Golombok Rust婚姻状况调查问卷来评估焦虑、抑郁、育儿压力和关系满意度。每个家长还将完成育儿联盟清单，以评估在育儿方面的承诺和合作，以及谁做什么问卷，以评估父母如何分配与孩子有关的任务。社会支持将使用感知社会支持的多维度量表来衡量，女同性恋母亲的歧视、被拒绝和受害的经历，以及自豪感和社区联系，将使用适应少数性别压力和韧性的衡量标准来衡量。亲子关系的质量将使用家长发展访谈和亲子互动的观察性评估来评估。访谈中将包括定性部分，重点关注父母的动机、生活经历、对他们选择的为人父母之路的感受和期望。孩子们将接受伯克利木偶访谈，以评估他们对父母关系的看法，并使用麦克阿瑟故事干电池评估依恋的安全性。长处和困难问卷将由家长和老师完成，以评估孩子的心理适应情况。将使用定量和定性方法对数据进行分析。

The growth of assisted reproductive technologies in the 1980s resulted in donor insemination becoming a new route to parenthood for lesbian women. In these lesbian mother families, the mother who becomes pregnant has a biological connection to the child whereas the other mother does not. In 2010, lesbian couples began to have children through shared biological parenting whereby one woman's egg is used to create an embryo with donated sperm and the other woman undergoes the pregnancy, a procedure that enables both mothers to have a biological connection to their child. The mother who provides the egg has a genetic connection whereas the mother who hosts the pregnancy has a gestational connection. The aim of the proposed research is to conduct the first study worldwide of mother-child relationships and the psychological adjustment of children born through shared biological motherhood. The study will provide empirical data on the outcomes for parents and children in families formed in this novel way. The study will also provide an opportunity to examine the relative importance of genetic and gestational relatedness between children and their mothers in the development of secure attachment relationships. The over-arching research question that the study will address is whether a genetic or a gestational connection is more important for maternal bonding and for the development of secure attachment relationships between children and their mothers. The study will also examine whether shared biological motherhood results in more positive maternal psychological well-being, more positive partner relationships and more positive child adjustment compared to lesbian mother families formed by donor insemination in which only one mother is biologically related to the child. Fifty lesbian mother families created through shared motherhood will be compared to 50 lesbian mother families formed through donor insemination (with a biological and a social mother) and 50 heterosexual mother families formed through IVF to provide a comparison group of mothers from traditional families controlling for the use of assisted conception and the presence of two parents. The children will be aged between 3-6 years. Parents' psychological well-being and relationships will be assessed using the Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Edinburgh Depression Scale, the Parenting Stress Index and the Golombok Rust Inventory of Marital State to assess anxiety, depression, parenting stress and relationship satisfaction, respectively. Each parent will also complete the Parenting Alliance Inventory to assess commitment and cooperation in child-rearing, and the Who Does What Questionnaire to provide an assessment of how parents divide child-related tasks. Social support will be measured using the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and lesbian mothers' experiences of discrimination, rejection and victimisation, as well as pride and community connectedness, will be measured using an adaptation of the Gender Minority Stress and Resilience Measure. The quality of parent-child relationships will be assessed using the Parent Development Interview and an observational assessment of parent-child interaction. A qualitative section will be included in the interview focusing on parents' motivations, lived experiences, feelings and expectations regarding their chosen route to parenthood. The children will be interviewed using the Berkeley Puppet Interview to assess their perceptions of their relationships with their parents, and the MacArthur Story Stem Battery to assess security of attachment. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire will be completed by parents and teachers to assess children's psychological adjustment. The data will be analysed using quantitative and qualitative methods.