title: Non-genetic and non-gestational parenthood: consequences for parent-child relationships and the psychological well-being of mothers, fathers and children at age 3.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Findings are presented of the third phase of a longitudinal study of children conceived by assisted reproduction procedures involving surrogacy and/or donor conception.
  
  
  METHODS
  At the time of the child's third birthday, 34 surrogacy families, 41 donor insemination families and 41 oocyte donation families were compared with 67 natural conception families on standardized interview and questionnaire measures of the psychological well-being of the parents, mother-child relationships and the psychological well-being of the child.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The differences found between family types reflected higher levels of warmth and interaction between mothers and their 3-year-old children in assisted reproduction families than in families with a naturally conceived child. A higher proportion of surrogacy parents than donor conception parents had told their children about the nature of their birth.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It appears that the absence of a genetic and/or gestational link between parents and their child does not have a negative impact on parent-child relationships or the psychological well-being of mothers, fathers or children at age 3.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. seg42@cam.ac.uk
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Golombok
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Jadva
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lycett
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: MacCallum
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rust
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005220:Fathers / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007316:Insemination, Artificial, Heterologous / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology; D018587:Oocyte Donation / Q000523:psychology; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D002666:Psychology, Child; D013533:Gestational Carriers / Q000523:psychology