Factors associated with children’s attachment hierarchy in lesbian, gay, and heterosexual parent families through assisted reproduction

Abstract

With few exceptions, previous studies of children’s identification and hierarchy of attachment figures have involved only children born to heterosexual parents through unassisted conception, recognizing mothers as the primary attachment figures. Further research into diverse families may help to disentangle parents’ attachment role from their gender, sexual orientation, and biological relatedness to children. The present study aimed at exploring whether differences in children’s choice of primary attachment figure could be explained by parents’ gender, biological status, attachment state of mind, reflective functioning, parenting quality, or by the child’s gender, across diverse family types. In total, 152 parents (i.e., 60 lesbian mothers through donor insemination, 50 gay fathers through surrogacy, 42 heterosexual parents through gamete donation) and their 76 school-aged children participated in the study. Children were interviewed about their choice of attachment figure in different situations. Parents completed questionnaires about parenting stress, parental rejection, parent–child relational efficacy, and parent positivity; and were administered the Adult Attachment Interview as a measure of their attachment state of mind and reflective functioning. Overall, no significant differences emerged between mothers and fathers or between biological and non-biological parents for children’s choice of primary attachment figure. However, fathers with higher RF were more likely to be identified as a primary attachment figure, and gay fathers who demonstrated less parental rejection were more likely to be chosen as a primary attachment figure. The findings provide important insights for social policies aimed at promoting preventive parenting interventions targeting the child–parent attachment bond in diverse families.