21st Century Families: Parent-child relationships and children's psychological wellbeing

New pathways to parenthood have recently emerged that did not exist, nor had even been imagined, at the turn of the 21st century. Individuals who were previously unknown to each other have begun to meet over the internet with the purpose of having children together; transgender men and women have begun to have children through medically assisted reproduction; single heterosexual men have begun to use surrogacy to become single fathers by choice; and women have begun to use identifiable egg donors to have children. These emerging family structures raise new ethical, social and psychological concerns, particularly regarding the potentially negative consequences for children. The proposed research will provide empirical evidence from a multidisciplinary perspective on the social and psychological consequences for children of growing up in family arrangements involving non-cohabiting co-parents, transgender parents, elective single fathers and identifiable egg donors. In this emotive area of family life on which people often hold strong opinions, our aim is to challenge prejudice and assumption with evidence on the actual consequences – good, bad or neutral – for children. The ultimate goal of the proposed research is to increase understanding of diversity in family life and improve the lives of 21st century children.