Families created through surrogacy: Mother–child relationships and children's psychological adjustment at age 7

Golombok, Susan; Readings, Jennifer; Blake, Lucy; Casey, Polly; Marks, Alex; Jadva, Vasanti

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. © 2011 American Psychological Association.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Nov 1, 2011
• Deposit Date: Jul 12, 2021
• Journal: Developmental Psychology
• Print ISSN: 0012-1649
• Electronic ISSN: 1939-0599
• Publisher: American Psychological Association
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 47
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 1579-1588
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025292
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/7521355