Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Institute for Women's Health, University College London, London, UK.
Hum Reprod. 2023 May 2;38(5):917-926. doi: 10.1093/humrep/dead047.
Does shared biological motherhood, in which a woman gives birth to the genetic child of her female partner, result in more positive mother-child relationships than donor insemination, in which only one mother is biologically related to the child?
Mothers in both family types showed high levels of bonding with their children and viewed their relationship with their child positively.
There is some evidence of feelings of inequality regarding their relationship with their child between biological and non-biological mothers in lesbian mother families formed by donor insemination, with a qualitative longitudinal study showing a tendency for children to form stronger bonds with their biological than their non-biological mother.
STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION: Thirty lesbian mother families created through shared biological motherhood were compared with 30 lesbian mother families formed by donor-IVF. All families had two mothers who both participated in the study, and the children were aged from infancy up to 8 years old. Data collection took place over 20 months beginning in December 2019.
PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS: Each mother in the family was interviewed separately using the Parent Development Interview (PDI), a reliable and valid measure of the nature of the parent's emotional bond with their child. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded separately by one of two trained researchers who were unaware of the child's family type. The interview produces 13 variables that relate to the parent's representations of themselves as a parent, 5 variables that relate to the parent's representations of the child, and a global variable that assesses the extent to which the parent can reflect on the child and their relationship.
Families formed through shared biological parenthood did not differ from families created by donor-IVF in terms of the quality of mothers' relationships with their children as assessed by the PDI. Neither were differences identified between birth mothers and non-birth mothers across the entire sample, or between gestational and genetic mothers within the families formed by shared biological parenthood. Multivariate analyses were conducted to minimize the role of chance.
LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION: Ideally, larger samples of families and a narrower age range of children would have been studied, but this was not possible as we were reliant on the small number of families formed through shared biological motherhood in the UK when the study began. To maintain the anonymity of the families, it was not possible to request information from the clinic that may have shed light on differences between those who responded to the request to participate and those who did not.
The findings show that shared biological motherhood is a positive option for lesbian couples who wish to have a more equal biological relationship to their children. One type of biological connection does not appear to have a greater influence on the quality of parent-child relationships than the other.
STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S): This study was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) grant ES/S001611/1. KA is Director, and NM is Medical Director, of the London Women's Clinic. The remaining authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
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在生育孩子的女性与她的女性伴侣具有共同生物学母亲身份的情况下，与仅一位母亲与孩子具有生物学关系的供体授精相比，这种关系是否会导致更积极的母子关系？
两种家庭类型的母亲都与她们的孩子表现出高度的亲密感，并对她们与孩子的关系持积极态度。
在通过供体授精形成的女同性恋母亲家庭中，生物学母亲和非生物学母亲之间存在与她们与孩子的关系不平等的感觉，一项定性纵向研究表明，孩子与生物学母亲的关系比与非生物学母亲的关系更紧密。
研究设计、大小和持续时间：通过共同生物学母亲身份创建的 30 个女同性恋母亲家庭与通过供体-IVF 形成的 30 个女同性恋母亲家庭进行了比较。所有家庭都有两位母亲共同参与研究，孩子的年龄从婴儿到 8 岁不等。数据收集始于 2019 年 12 月，历时 20 个月。
参与者/材料、设置、方法：每个家庭的母亲都分别使用父母发展访谈（PDI）进行了访谈，这是一种可靠且有效的衡量父母与孩子情感纽带本质的方法。访谈被逐字转录并由两位经过培训的研究人员分别进行编码，他们不知道孩子的家庭类型。访谈产生了 13 个变量，这些变量与父母对自己作为父母的代表性有关；5 个变量与父母对孩子的代表性有关；以及一个评估父母对孩子及其关系进行反思程度的总体变量。
通过共同生物学母亲身份形成的家庭在母亲与孩子的关系质量方面与通过供体-IVF 形成的家庭没有差异，这是根据 PDI 评估的。在整个样本中，也没有发现出生母亲和非出生母亲之间的差异，或者在通过共同生物学母亲身份形成的家庭中，妊娠母亲和遗传母亲之间的差异。进行了多变量分析以最小化机会的作用。
局限性、谨慎的原因：理想情况下，我们希望研究更大的家庭样本和更窄的儿童年龄范围，但由于研究开始时英国通过共同生物学母亲身份形成的家庭数量较少，这是不可能的。为了保持家庭的匿名性，我们无法从诊所请求可能阐明参与请求和未参与请求的家庭之间差异的信息。
研究结果表明，共同生物学母亲身份是希望与孩子建立更平等生物学关系的女同性恋夫妇的一个积极选择。一种生物学联系似乎并没有比另一种对亲子关系的质量产生更大的影响。
研究资助/利益冲突：本研究由经济和社会研究委员会（ESRC）资助，资助号为 ES/S001611/1。KA 是伦敦妇女诊所的主任，NM 是该诊所的医疗主任。其余作者没有利益冲突需要声明。
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