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Father-child attachment in adoptive gay father families.

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

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Type

Article

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Authors

McConnachie, Anja L 
Ayed, Nadia 
Tasker, Fiona 

Abstract

The attachment security of children in 30 gay father families, 29 lesbian mother families and 38 heterosexual parent families was investigated using the Friends and Family Interview (FFI) at the second phase of a longitudinal study. Children in gay father families showed significantly higher levels of secure-autonomous attachment than children in heterosexual parent families, significantly lower levels of preoccupied attachment than children in either lesbian mother or heterosexual parent families, and significantly lower levels of disorganised attachment than children in heterosexual parent families. For children in gay father families, stepwise multiple regression revealed that neither hyperactivity nor emotional symptoms at Phase 1 were predictive of disorganisation at Phase 2. However, when entered alone, Phase 1 emotional symptoms predicted Phase 2 disorganisation. The results indicate that adopted children in gay father families are at least as likely to be securely attached as children in lesbian mother or heterosexual parent families.

Description

Keywords

Gay father families, adjustment, adoption, attachment, same-sex parenting, Child, Child Development, Child, Preschool, Father-Child Relations, Fathers, Female, Heterosexuality, Homosexuality, Female, Homosexuality, Male, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Mother-Child Relations, Mothers, Object Attachment, Parenting

Journal Title

Attach Hum Dev

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1461-6734
1469-2988

Volume Title

22

Publisher

Informa UK Limited

Rights

All rights reserved
Sponsorship
Economic and Social Research Council (ES/M010015/1)