title: Families created through surrogacy: mother-child relationships and children's psychological adjustment at age 7.
abstract: Each year, an increasing number of children are born through surrogacy and thus lack a genetic and/or gestational link with their mother. This study examined the impact of surrogacy on mother-child relationships and children's psychological adjustment. Assessments of maternal positivity, maternal negativity, mother-child interaction, and child adjustment were administered to 32 surrogacy, 32 egg donation, and 54 natural conception families with a 7-year-old child. No differences were found for maternal negativity, maternal positivity, or child adjustment, although the surrogacy and egg donation families showed less positive mother-child interaction than the natural conception families. The findings suggest that both surrogacy and egg donation families function well in the early school years.
authors: Centre for Family Research, Faculty of Politics, Psychology, Sociology, and International Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. seg42@cam.ac.uk
authors: Susan
authors: S
authors: Golombok
authors: Jennifer
authors: J
authors: Readings
authors: Lucy
authors: L
authors: Blake
authors: Polly
authors: P
authors: Casey
authors: Alex
authors: A
authors: Marks
authors: Vasanti
authors: V
authors: Jadva
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002648:Child; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D018587:Oocyte Donation / Q000523:psychology; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000523:psychology*; D002666:Psychology, Child; D013533:Gestational Carriers / Q000523:psychology*