Modern Families
Parents and Children in New Family Forms

This book provides an expert view of research on parenting and child development in new family forms.

Susan Golombok (Author)

9781107650251, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 9 March 2015

282 pages, 8 b/w illus.
22.6 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.41 kg

'Modern Families is a landmark publication, a succinct state-of-the-art review, and is highly relevant reading for researchers in developmental psychology or family studies and for students in these fields. Policymakers, and indeed parents or want-to-be parents of children brought up in de novo or planned lesbian or gay families, will also want to read this rich and inspiring book.' Fiona Tasker and Victor Figueroa, Journal of GLBT Family Studies

Modern Families brings together research on parenting and child development in new family forms including lesbian mother families, gay father families, families headed by single mothers by choice and families created by assisted reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF), egg donation, sperm donation, embryo donation and surrogacy. This research is examined in the context of the issues and concerns that have been raised regarding these families. The findings not only contest popular myths and assumptions about the social and psychological consequences for children of being raised in new family forms but also challenge well-established theories of child development that are founded upon the supremacy of the traditional family. It is argued that the quality of family relationships and the wider social environment are more influential in children's psychological development than are the number, gender, sexual orientation, or biological relatedness of their parents or the method of their conception.

1. Introduction
2. Lesbian mother families
3. 'Test-tube' baby families
4. Donor conception families
5. Surrogacy families
6. Solo mother families
7. Gay father families
8. Conclusions.

Subject Areas: Social, group or collective psychology [JMH], Child & developmental psychology [JMC], Psychology [JM]