Abstract
In this chapter, we distinguish among three types of foci in studies on planned lesbian-mother families in which the children were conceived by donor insemination after the mothers came out as lesbian. These include studies that focus on (a) a comparison between planned lesbian-mother families and different-sex parent families on family characteristics, parenting, and child outcomes; (b) differences and/or similarities between biological mothers (or “birth mothers”) and nonbiological mothers (or “co-mothers”) on such aspects as motivation for parenthood, parenting experiences, and division of labor; and (c) the diversity within planned lesbian-mother families (in areas such as experiences of stigmatization and donor status) and the impact of this diversity on parenting and child outcomes. These three research areas are grounded in different theoretical backgrounds. We then present an overview of the most important findings in each category of research. Finally, we discuss scientific limitations of the summarized studies, challenges for future research, and practical implications.
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Bos, H., Gartrell, N. (2020). Lesbian-Mother Families Formed Through Donor Insemination. In: Goldberg, A.E., Allen, K.R. (eds) LGBTQ-Parent Families. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35610-1_2
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