How do lesbian couples compare with heterosexual in vitro fertilization and spontaneously pregnant couples when it comes to parenting stress?

Catrin Borneskog, Claudia Lampic, Gunilla Sydsjö, Marie Bladh, Agneta Skoog Svanberg

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

AIM: To study parenting stress in lesbian parents and to compare that stress with heterosexual parents following in vitro fertilisation (IVF) or spontaneous pregnancies.

METHODS: This survey took place during 2005-2008 and was part of the Swedish multicentre study on gamete donation. It comprised 131 lesbian parents, 83 heterosexual IVF parents, who used their own gametes, and 118 spontaneous pregnancy parents. The participants responded to the questionnaire when the child was between 12 and 36-months-old and parenting stress was measured by the Swedish Parenting Stress Questionnaire (SPSQ).

RESULTS: Lesbian parents experienced less parenting stress than heterosexual IVF parents when it came to the General Parenting Stress measure (p = 0.001) and the subareas of Incompetence (p < 0.001), Social Isolation (p = 0.033) and Role Restriction (p = 0.004). They also experienced less parenting stress than heterosexual spontaneous pregnancy couples, according to the Social Isolation subarea (p = 0.003). Birth mothers experienced higher stress than co-mothers and fathers, according to the Role Restriction measure (p = 0.041).

CONCLUSION: These are reassuring findings, considering the known challenges that lesbian families face in establishing their parental roles and, in particular, the challenges related to the lack of recognition of the co-mother.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)537-545
Number of pages9
JournalActa Paediatrica, International Journal of Paediatrics
Volume103
Issue number5
Early online date1 Apr 2014
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 May 2014
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Adult
  • Child, Preschool
  • Fathers/psychology
  • Female
  • Fertilization in Vitro/psychology
  • Health Surveys
  • Heterosexuality/psychology
  • Homosexuality, Female/psychology
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Male
  • Mothers/psychology
  • Parenting/psychology
  • Pregnancy
  • Prospective Studies
  • Psychological Tests
  • Stress, Psychological/etiology
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Sweden

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