Single mothers by choice: Mother-child relationships and children's psychological adjustment

Journal of Family Psychology

Volumn 30, Issue 4, 2016, Pages 409-418

  Golombok, Susan ^a   Zadeh, Sophie ^a   Imrie, Susan ^a   Smith, Venessa ^b   Freeman, Tabitha ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE   (United Kingdom)

^b London Women's Clinic   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Child adjustment; Parenting; Single mothers by choice; Solo mothers

Indexed keywords

ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION; CASE REPORT; CHILD; CONTROLLED STUDY; FEMALE; GENDER; HUMAN; INSTRUMENT VALIDATION; INTERVIEW; MALE; MOTHER; MOTHER CHILD RELATION; PARENTAL STRESS; PSYCHOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENT; PSYCINFO; QUESTIONNAIRE; TEACHER; WELLBEING; ADULT; MATERNAL BEHAVIOR; PSYCHOLOGY; SINGLE PARENT; SINGLE-PARENT FAMILY; SOCIOECONOMICS; STATISTICS AND NUMERICAL DATA;

ADULT; CHILD; EMOTIONAL ADJUSTMENT; FEMALE; HUMANS; INTERVIEWS AS TOPIC; MALE; MATERNAL BEHAVIOR; MOTHER-CHILD RELATIONS; MOTHERS; SINGLE PARENT; SINGLE-PARENT FAMILY; SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS; SURVEYS AND QUESTIONNAIRES;

EID: 84957655555     PISSN: 08933200     EISSN: 19391293     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1037/fam0000188     Document Type: Article

References (61)

1. Abidin, R. (1990). Parenting Stress Index Test manual. Charlottesville, VA: Pediatric Psychology Press.
2. Amato, P. R. (2000). The consequences of divorce for adults and children. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 62, 1269-1287. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2000.01269.x.
3. Amato, P. R. (2001). Children of divorce in the 1990s: An update of the Amato and Keith (1991). meta-analysis. Journal of Family Psychology, 15, 355-370. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0893-3200.15.3.355.
4. Amato, P. R. (2005). The impact of family formation change on the cognitive, social, and emotional well-being of the next generation. The Future of Children, 15, 75-96. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/foc.2005.0012.
5. Aspland, H., & Gardner, F. (2003). Observational measures of parent child interaction. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 8, 136-143. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1475-3588.00061.
6. Bakeman, R., & Gottman, J. (1997). Observing interaction: An introduction to sequential analysis. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511527685.
7. Bakeman, R., & Quera, V. (2011). Sequential analysis and observational methods for the behavioral sciences. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139017343.
8. Bock, J. (2000). Doing the right thing? Single mothers by choice and the struggle for legitimacy. Gender & Society, 14, 62-86. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/089124300014001005.
9. Bos, H., & Gartrell, N. (2010). Adolescents of the USA National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study: Can family characteristics counteract the negative effects of stigmatization? Family Process, 49, 559-572. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1545-5300.2010.01340.x.
10. Bos, H. M. W., Gartrell, N. K., Peyser, H., & van Balen, F. (2008). The USA National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS): Homophobia, psychological adjustment, and protective factors. Journal of Lesbian Studies, 12, 455-471. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10894160802278630.
11. Brodzinsky, D. M. (2011). Children's understanding of adoption: Developmental and clinical implications. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 42, 200-207.
12. Chan, R. W., Raboy, B., & Patterson, C. J. (1998). Psychosocial adjustment among children conceived via donor insemination by lesbian and heterosexual mothers. Child Development, 69, 443-457. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1998.tb06201.x.
13. Coleman, L., & Glenn, F. (2009). When couples part: Understanding the consequences for adults and children. London, UK: One Plus One.
14. Deater-Deckard, K., & Petrill, S. A. (2004). Parent-child dyadic mutuality and child behavior problems: An investigation of gene-environment processes. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45, 1171-1179. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.00309.x.
15. Demo, D. H., & Acock, A. C. (1996). Family structure, family process, and adolescent well-being. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 6, 457-488.
16. Demuth, S., & Brown, S. L. (2004). Family structure, family processes, and adolescent delinquency: The significance of parental absence versus parental gender. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 41, 58-81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022427803256236.
17. De Wert, G., Dondorp, W., Shenfield, F., Barri, P., Devroey, P., Diedrich, K.,. Pennings, G. (2014). ESHRE Task Force on Ethics and Law 23: Medically assisted reproduction in singles, lesbian and gay couples, and transsexual people. Human Reproduction, 29, 1859-1865.
18. Dunn, J., Deater-Deckard, K., Pickering, K., O'Connor, T. G., & Golding, J., & the ALSPAC Study Team. Avon Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood. (1998). Children's adjustment and prosocial behaviour in step-, single-parent, and non-stepfamily settings: Findings from a community study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 39, 1083-1095. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1469-7610.00413.
19. Ensor, R., & Hughes, C. (2010). With a little help from my friends: Maternal social support, via parenting, promotes willingness to share in preschoolers born to young mothers. Infant and Child Development, 19, 127-141.
20. Farr, R., Forssell, S. L., & Patterson, C. (2010a). Gay, lesbian, and heterosexual adoptive parents: Couple and relationship issues. Journal of GLBT Family Studies, 6, 199-213. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15504281003705436.
21. Farr, R., Forssell, S., & Patterson, C. (2010b). Parenting and child development in adoptive families: Does parental sexual orientation matter? Applied Developmental Science, 14, 164-178. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2010.500958.
22. Funamoto, A., & Rinaldi, C. M. (2015). Measuring parent-child mutuality: A review of current observational coding systems. Infant Mental Health Journal, 36, 3-11. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/imhj.21481.
23. Golombok, S. (2015). Modern families: Parents and children in new family forms. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107295377.
24. Golombok, S., Blake, L., Casey, P., Roman, G., & Jadva, V. (2013). Children born through reproductive donation: A longitudinal study of psychological adjustment. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 54, 653-660. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12015.
25. Golombok, S., Mellish, L., Jennings, S., Casey, P., Tasker, F., & Lamb, M. E. (2014). Adoptive gay father families: Parent-child relationships and children's psychological adjustment. Child Development, 85, 456-468.
26. Golombok, S., Readings, J., Blake, L., Casey, P., Mellish, L., Marks, A., & Jadva, V. (2011). Children conceived by gamete donation: Psychological adjustment and mother-child relationships at age 7. Journal of Family Psychology, 25, 230-239. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0022769.
27. Goodman, R. (1994). A modified version of the Rutter parent questionnaire including extra items on children's strengths: A research note. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 35, 1483-1494. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1994.tb01289.x.
28. Goodman, R. (1997). The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: A research note. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 38, 581-586. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1997.tb01545.x.
29. Goodman, R. (2001). Psychometric properties of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 40, 1337-1345. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00004583-200111000-00015.
30. Graham, S. (2012). Choosing single motherhood? Single women negotiating the nuclear family ideal. In D. Cutas & S. Chan (Eds.), Families: Beyond the nuclear ideal (pp. 97-109). London, UK: Bloomsbury Academic.
31. Graham, S. (2014). Stories of an absent "father": Single women negotiating relatedness from donor profiles. In T. Freeman, S. Graham, F. Ebethaj, & M. Richards (Eds.), Relatedness in assisted reproduction: Families, origins and identities (pp. 212-231). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139814737.015.
32. Graham, S., & Braverman, A. (2012). ARTs and the single parent. In M. Richards, G. Pennings, & J. B. Appleby (Eds.), Reproductive donation: Practice, policy and bioethics. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139026390.011.
33. Grotevant, H. D., & Von Korff, L. (2011). Adoptive identity. In S. Schwartz, K. Luyckx, & V. L. Vignoles (Eds.), Handbook of identity theory and research (pp. 585-601). New York, NY: Springer.
34. Hartmann, D., & Wood, D. (1990). Observational methods. In A. Bellack, M. Hersen, & A. Kazdin (Eds.), International handbook of behavior modification and therapy (pp. 107-138). New York, NY: Plenum Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0523-1_6.
35. Hertz, R. (2006). Single by chance, mothers by choice: How women are choosing parenthood without marriage and creating the new American family. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
36. Hetherington, E. M., & Stanley-Hagan, M. (1999). The adjustment of children with divorced parents: A risk and resiliency perspective. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 40, 129-140. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1469-7610.00427.
37. Hetherington, E. M., & Stanley-Hagan, M. M. (2002). Parenting in divorced and remarried families. In M. Bornstein (Ed.), Handbook of parenting: Vol. 3. Being and becoming a parent (pp. 287-316). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
38. Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. (2013). Fertility treatment in 2013: Trends and figures. London, UK: Author.
39. Jadva, V., Badger, S., Morrissette, M., & Golombok, S. (2009). "Mom by choice, single by life's circumstance.": Findings from a large scale survey of the experiences of single mothers by choice. Human Fertility, 12, 175-184. http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/14647270903373867.
40. Kerig, P. K. (Ed.), (2001). Introduction and overviews: Conceptual issues in family observational research. London, UK: Erlbaum.
41. Kiernan, K., & Mensah, F. K. (2010). Unmarried parenthood, family trajectories, parent and child well-being. Bristol, UK: The Policy Press.
42. Lansford, J. E., Cebello, R., Abbey, A., & Stewart, A. J. (2001). Does family structure matter? A comparison of adoptive, two-parent biological, single-mother, stepfather, and stepmother households. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 63, 840-851. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2001.00840.x.
43. Lloyd, G., & Lacey, R. (2012). Understanding 21st century relationships: A compendium of key data. In G. Lloyd & R. Lacey (Eds.), Household composition and families (pp. 1-39). London, UK: OnePlusOne.
44. McLanahan, S., & Sandefur, G. (1994). Growing up with a single parent: What hurts, what helps. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
45. Murray, C., & Golombok, S. (2005a). Going it alone: Solo mothers and their infants conceived by donor insemination. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 75, 242-253. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0002-9432.75.2.242.
46. Murray, C., & Golombok, S. (2005b). Solo mothers and their donor insemination infants: Follow-up at age 2 years. Human Reproduction, 20, 1655-1660. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/humrep/deh823.
47. Overton, W. F. (2014). The process-relational paradigm and relationaldevelopmental-systems metamodel as context. Research in Human Development, 11, 323-331. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15427609.2014.971549.
48. Overton, W. F. (2015). Process and relational-developmental systems. In R. M. Lerner (Gen Ed.), W. F. Overton, & P. C. Molenaar (Eds.), Theory and Method: Vol. 1. Handbook of child psychology and developmental science (7th ed.) (pp. 9-62). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
49. Pryor, J., & Rodgers, B. (2001). Children in changing families. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing.
50. Quinton, D., & Rutter, M. (1988). Parenting breakdown: The making and breaking of intergenerational links. Aldershot, UK: Avebury Gower Publishing.
51. Rutter, M., Cox, A., Tupling, C., Berger, M., & Yule, W. (1975). Attainment and adjustment in two geographical areas: I. The prevalence of psychiatric disorder. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 126, 493-509. http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjp.126.6.493.
52. Slade, A., Belsky, J., Aber, J. L., & Phelps, J. L. (1999). Mothers' representations of their relationships with their toddlers: Links to adult attachment and observed mothering. Developmental Psychology, 35, 611-619. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.35.3.611.
53. Spielberger, C. (1983). The Handbook of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
54. Stevenson-Hinde, J., & Shouldice, A. (1995). Maternal interactions and self-reports related to attachment classifications at 4.5 years. Child Development, 66, 583-596. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1131936.
55. Stone, L. L., Otten, R., Engels, R. C., Vermulst, A. A., & Janssens, J. M. (2010). Psychometric properties of the parent and teacher versions of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire for 4-to 12-year-olds: A review. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 13, 254-274. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10567-010-0071-2.
56. Thorpe, K. (1993). A study of the use of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale with parent groups outside the postpartum period. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 11, 119-125. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02646839308403204.
57. U.S. Census Bureau. (2012). Single-parent households: 1980-2009. In Statistical Abstract of the United States (p. 840). Suitland, MD: Author.
58. Waldfogel, J., Craigie, T.-A., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2010). Fragile families and child wellbeing. The Future of Children, 20, 87-112. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/foc.2010.0002.
59. Weinraub, M., Horvath, D. L., & Gringlas, M. B. (2002). Single parenthood. In M. Bornstein (Ed.), Handbook of parenting: Vol. III. Being and becoming a parent (pp. 109-140). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
60. Weissenberg, R., & Landau, R. (2012). Are two a family? Older single mothers assisted by sperm donation and their children revisited. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 82, 523-528. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1939-0025.2012.01187.x.
61. Zaslow, M. J., Weinfield, N. S., Gallagher, M., Hair, E. C., Ogawa, J. R., Egeland, B.,. De Temple, J. M. (2006). Longitudinal prediction of child outcomes from differing measures of parenting in a low-income sample. Developmental Psychology, 42, 27-37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.42.1.27.