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导致捐赠者授精成为女同性恋妇女成为父母的新途径。在这些女同性恋母亲家庭中，怀孕的母亲与孩子有生物联系，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养育方式生孩子，其中一名妇女的卵子被用来用捐赠的精子创造胚胎，另一名妇女经历怀孕，这一过程使两名母亲与他们的孩子有生物联系。提供卵子的母亲具有遗传联系，而怀孕的母亲具有妊娠联系。这项拟议研究的目的是在全世界范围内首次研究母子关系和共同亲生母亲所生子女的心理调整。这项研究将提供经验数据，说明以这种新方式形成的家庭中父母和子女的结果。这项研究还将提供一个机会，以检查儿童和他们的母亲之间的遗传和妊娠相关性在安全的依恋关系的发展的相对重要性。这项研究将解决的过度研究问题是，遗传或妊娠联系对母亲的联系以及儿童与母亲之间安全依恋关系的发展是否更重要。该研究还将研究是否共享生物母亲导致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调整相比，通过捐赠者授精形成的女同性恋母亲家庭，其中只有一个母亲与孩子有生物关系。将通过共同母亲身份创建的50个女同性恋母亲家庭与通过捐赠者授精（有生物和社会母亲）形成的50个女同性恋母亲家庭和通过试管婴儿形成的50个异性恋母亲家庭进行比较，以提供控制使用辅助受孕和父母双方在场的传统家庭的母亲的比较组。孩子们的年龄将在3-6岁之间。父母的心理健康和关系将使用特质焦虑量表，爱丁堡抑郁量表，父母压力指数和婚姻状态Golombok Rust量表进行评估，以评估焦虑，抑郁，父母压力和关系满意度，分别。每位家长还将完成育儿联盟清单，以评估在养育子女方面的承诺和合作，以及谁做什么问卷，以评估父母如何分配与子女有关的任务。社会支持将使用感知社会支持的多维度量表进行测量，女同性恋母亲的歧视，拒绝和排斥经历，以及自豪感和社区联系，将使用改编的性别少数压力和复原力测量进行测量。亲子关系的质量将使用父母发展访谈和亲子互动的观察评估进行评估。访谈中将包括一个定性部分，重点是父母的动机、生活经历、感受和对他们选择的为人父母之路的期望。孩子们将接受采访，使用伯克利木偶访谈，以评估他们的看法，他们与父母的关系，和麦克阿瑟故事干电池，以评估安全的附件。家长及教师将填写“长处及困难问卷”，以评估儿童的心理适应能力。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.