Quality of parenting in families created by the new reproductive technologies: a brief report of preliminary findings.

The creation of families by means of the new reproductive technologies has raised important questions about the consequences for parent-child relationships, particularly where gamete donation has been used to conceive the child. Preliminary findings are presented of a study of the quality of parenting in families created as a result of the two most widely used reproductive technologies, in vitro fertilization and donor insemination, in comparison with a control group of families with a naturally conceived child and a control group of adoptive families. The quality of parenting was assessed using a standardized interview with the mother, and mothers and fathers completed questionnaire measures of stress associated with parenting. The results showed that the quality of parenting in families with a child conceived by assisted conception is superior to that shown by families with a naturally conceived child. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding the role of genetic ties in parent-child relationships.