Transition to parenthood and quality of parenting among gay, lesbian and heterosexual couples who conceived through assisted reproduction

ABSTRACT

Little research has focused on the emotions felt during pregnancy and early parenthood as well as the initial quality of parenting displayed by first-time parents who conceived using assisted reproduction technologies (surrogacy, donor insemination, and in vitro fertilization). Research on primary and secondary caregivers in gay, lesbian, and heterosexual families is especially sparse. The current study examined 35 gay-father families, 58 lesbian-mother families, and 41 heterosexual-parent families with their infants. Families were assessed at home when their infants were 4 months old (±14 days), and each parent participated in an audio-recorded standardized semi-structured interview in which we explored parental feelings during pregnancy, feelings about the parental role, perceived parental competence, the enjoyment of parenthood, expressed warmth, and emotional over-involvement. Heterosexual parents reported less positive feelings in early pregnancy than lesbian parents, while gay parents reported less positive feelings at the end of pregnancy than lesbian mothers and more positive feelings about parenthood during the first post-partum weeks than heterosexual parents. Family type and caregiver role did not interact to affect reported feelings, perceived competence, enjoyment, warmth, and involvement. The present findings elucidate the transition to parenthood among first-time parents who conceived using assisted reproductive technologies.

KEYWORDS:

• Gay fathers
• lesbian mothers
• assisted reproduction technologies
• transition to parenthood
• parental warmth

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Marie Michal Schmelck, Julie Brément, Ellen van Reemst, Jeanine Baartmans, and Mathilde Brewaeys for their help with collecting the data. They also would like to thank the families for participating.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported, under the auspices of the Open Research Area (Application BO 3973/1-1; Principal Investigator, Michael E Lamb), by grants from the UK Economic and Social Research Council [ESRC; grant number ES/K006150/1, Principal Investigator, Michael E. Lamb]; The Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek for Scientific Research [NWO; grant number 464-11-001, Principal Investigator, Henny Bos]; the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche [ANR; grant number ANR-12-ORAR-00005-01, Principal Investigator, Olivier Vecho] whose support is gratefully acknowledged.