Nonbiological Mothers Research Articles

Book Review: I Could Not Call Her Mother: The Stepmother in American Popular Culture, 1750-1960

Rebecca Jo Plant, review of Leslie J. Lindenauer, I Could Not Call Her Mother: The Stepmother in American Popular Culture, 1750-1960 (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2013). Forthcoming in the Journal of Family History. Scholars have devoted a great deal of attention to the history of mothers and motherhood in recent years. Whereas this literature encompasses numerous works on adoptive mothers, another group of non-biological mothers—stepmothers—has been largely overlooked. Leslie J. Lindenauer seeks to remedy this neglect by tracing the cultural history of the stepmother as revealed primarily by popular fiction, advice literature and film. She not only seeks to show how representations of stepmothers varied over time, but also to demonstrate how the figure of the stepmother served as “a lens on the changing constructions of motherhood itself over time.” (xxi) While the book meets the former objective with verve, it is not wholly successful in achieving the latter. The book’s first chapter charts a shift from the widespread demonization of stepmothers in the late 18 th and early 19 th centuries toward more ambiguous and positive portrayals beginning in the mid-19 th century. The wicked stepmother loomed large in the cultural landscape of the Revolutionary and early national periods, serving as a counterpoint for the emergent ideal of the Republican mother. Lindenauer astutely notes the role that the political context played in shaping depictions of stepmothers, who were deemed “tyrannical, corrupt, avaricious, selfish” and “unnatural”—terms that reflected the ascendant language of republicanism and natural rights (21). Indeed, so resonant was the image of the wicked stepmother that rebellious colonists readily employed it to describe the deteriorating relationship with England; as one critic of the Stamp Act wrote, the once “beloved Mother country” had become a “cruel step-mother, unbounded in her malice.” (8) By the mid-19 th century, however, the privileging of “natural” motherhood diminished somewhat, as the intense cultural idealization of motherhood expanded so as to encompass stepmothers as well. In fact, some writers represented stepmothers as the ideal exemplars of mother love, for they gave selflessly even in the absence of a biological connection. In the period from 1860 to 1890—an era Lindenauer characterizes as witnessing the “redemption of the stepmother”—popular magazines ran numerous stories that portrayed stepmothers winning over initially suspicious and resentful stepchildren through patience and love. Other vignettes challenged the stereotype of the cold and greedy stepmother who connived to snare a widower by featuring virtuous women lured into loveless marriages by widowers who wanted only their domestic labor. While Lindenauer ably sketches this shift, the reasons why the stereotype of the evil stepmother waned remain somewhat murky. She suggests that large-scale shifts in the economy that threatened to destabilize the family, combined with the rise of advanced education for women and their increasing forays into public and political realms, led to efforts to shore up the familial ideal, lest women abandon domesticity. But this argument seems quite general. Could changing demographics (the fact that stepmothers became less common as the average life span rose) have played a role? Did it matter that, by the mid-19 th century, that women themselves were writing many of the popular stories featuring stepmothers? Or might actual changes in parental practices, such as the decline in the apprenticing of children and corporal punishment, somehow have rendered stepmothers less objectionable? While the reasons underlying cultural transformation

Experiences of Preconception, Pregnancy, and New Motherhood for Lesbian Nonbiological Mothers

To describe the experiences of preconception, pregnancy, and new motherhood from the perspective of lesbian nonbiological mothers. Descriptive phenomenology. A private room at the study site and participants' homes. Twenty-four self-identified lesbian nonbiological mothers in a committed relationship and whose partner gave birth within the past 2 years participated. All of the participants were from urban or suburban areas in the Pacific Northwest. Women participated in semistructured in person interviews that were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim for analysis. Coliazzi's method guided the process. An overarching theme of "feeling different" permeated the experiences of preconception, pregnancy, and new motherhood for the participants. The women's narratives revealed seven themes that illustrated their experiences: (a) Launching pregnancy: A roller coaster ride; (b) Having legal and biological concerns: Biology prevails; (c) There is a little person in there: Dealing with pregnancy issues; (d) Losing relationships over pregnancy: The elephant in the room; (e) Feeling incomplete as a mother; (f) Carving a unique role: There are very few of us out there; and (g) Sadness and regret: Nonbiological mothers get the postpartum blues, too. The experience of preconception, pregnancy, and new motherhood for nonbiological lesbian mothers is complicated by the lack of biological and legal substantiation to the infant, few role models, and limited social support. Nurses and health care providers cognizant of these issues can play an important role in facilitating a positive transition to motherhood for this population.

Egging on Lesbian Maternity: The Legal Implications of Tri-Gametic in Vitro Fertilization

Several assisted reproductive technologies exist for lesbians and lesbian couples to create life. While many of these techniques, such as artificial insemination or surrogacy, are effective for embryo creation, they often lead to legally unpredictable and unstable parental rights for mothers. New and not yet widely used forms of assisted reproductive technologies allow two women to create an embryo that utilizes the genetic material of each, rather than relying on genetic material of a sperm donor. These procedures, not available in any major fertility clinic and not yet officially named, are referred to in this article as Tri-Gametic In Vitro Fertilization (TGIVF).This article submits that the use of TGIVF will allow lesbian couples to create families in a way that is more legally secure and predictable. Three situations illustrate how current statutory law and case law fall short with traditional methods of assisted reproductive technologies, and how TGIVF can strengthen parental rights for lesbian couples. First, under state statutes and case law, when a sperm donor in an insemination case tries to assert parental rights after donation, he has traditionally been able to rely on his genetic connection to claim such rights. With TGIVF, the court should see his role differently, in that he only donates the sperm casing and no genetic information. Second, a TGIVF donor may attempt to liken his role in donation of sperm casing to that of a gestational surrogate, arguing that each plays a crucial role in reproduction. Even if a TGIVF donor can overcome the hurdles that a surrogate must overcome to gain parental rights, a court will likely not view the processes of donating sperm and giving birth to a baby as comparable. Finally, when a lesbian couple with a child dissolves their relationship, the non-biological mother has limited legal protections. TGIVF guarantees both mothers the right to visitation and/or custody upon the dissolution of the relationship because both are the biological and genetic parents to the child.The article recommends that the law recognize TGIVF created families of two legal parents -- the two mothers -- and the children. Three-parent TGIVF created families should also be recognized and legally protected if the two genetic mothers intend to create such a family and the sperm donor agrees and intends such a family. The article concludes by insisting that TGIVF not be viewed as the only method by which lesbians and lesbian couples can form legally recognized families. TGIVF should not limit the options by which lesbians couples can form families, but instead is a stepping-stone into the future of legally recognized, non-traditional families.

Forming a family with sperm donation: a survey of 244 non-biological parents

There has been little research on the views and experiences of non-biological parents of sperm donor children. This paper reports the results of a survey of non-biological mothers and fathers. An online survey was designed and conducted by the Donor Sibling Registry, a US-based non-profit organization that supports those who have used donor conception. A total of 244 people responded (199 non-biological mothers and 45 non-biological fathers). The survey aimed to understand the perspectives of the respondents who had used donor spermatozoa within heterosexual or same-sex relationships, by exploring their views on a number of key issues. Certain issues and concerns associated with not being genetically related to their offspring were experienced differently by men and women. However, there were many important areas of common ground: a concern for getting a healthy donor, the importance of matching the donor to the non-biological partner, and the amount of thought that went into selecting the donor. The implications of these results for policies concerning donor spermatozoa are discussed.There has been little research on the views and experiences of non-biological parents of sperm donor children born from assisted conception. This paper reports the results of a survey of 244 non-biological mothers and fathers. An online survey designed by the Donor Sibling Registry, a US-based non-profit organization that supports those who have used donor conception, was conducted. Two hundred and forty four people responded (199 non-biological mothers and 45 non-biological fathers). The survey aimed to understand the perspectives of these parents within heterosexual and same-sex relationships who had used donor insemination in greater depth by exploring their views on a number of key issues. Certain issues and concerns that related to not being genetically related to their offspring were experienced differently by the men and women. However, there were many important areas of common ground: a concern for getting a healthy donor, the importance of matching the donor to the non-biological partner and the amount of thought that went into selecting the donor. The implications of these results for policies concerning donor insemination will be discussed.

Partage des tâches parentales au sein des couples de mères lesbiennes françaises ayant eu recours à une insémination artificielle avec donneur anonyme

This study, based on a questionnaire survey, examines the division of labor within 52 lesbian couples in France raising at least one child between 6 months and 5 years of age, conceived by anonymous donor insemination. Biological mothers showed slightly more involvement in childcare than non-biological mothers who spent more time in paid employment. The couples’ satisfaction with this asymmetry could be explained by their oscillation between biocentered and/or gendered representations of family and an egalitarian ideal. The link between social support and recognition on one hand, and on the other hand, the modalities of division of labor and related satisfaction seems to show, in a context of legal, judicial and symbolic precariousness, that these couples need parental and familial legitimization.

Lesbian mothers’ constructions of the division of paid and unpaid labor

Do lesbian couples resist the (re)gendering of divisions of paid and unpaid labor within the context of biological and nonbiological parenting? In this study we explore how primarily Caucasian, North American lesbian mothers of three-and-a-half-year-old children construct divisions of paid and unpaid labor. We analyze 30 lesbian couples’ narrative constructions of their labor arrangements, examining the ways in which they both transgress and accept traditionally masculine and feminine gendering. At the same time that biological mothers and nonbiological mothers often described differences in their contributions to paid and unpaid labor, they rarely invoked biology as a salient factor in explaining their work/family roles. Our analysis suggests that the ‘egalitarian ethic’ of lesbian women is an over-simplification of the multiple ways that women develop their divisions of labor.

Tradition and transgression: Lesbian motherhood in chile

This article reports on a study that explored how Chilean lesbians perceive and carry out motherhood. Lesbian mothering is a reflexive project in which lesbians must question issues that heterosexual women take for granted. For lesbian women in Chile, having a child involves not only exerting great effort and imagination but also bucking social expectations. Homosexuals in Chile live under the heterosexual assumption (an institutionalized rejection of homosexuality) and continually face the possibility of discrimination. Consequently, lesbians who undertake maternity especially experience feelings of fear and vulnerability. The author addresses topics including (a) the intersection of the traditional identity—mother—and the transgressive identity—lesbian; (b) lesbians’ choice of the method used to achieve motherhood (i.e., sexual intercourse, artificial insemination, or adoption); and (c) how lesbian couples organize mothering and what the nonbiological mother’s position is in the family. The author concludes that in the construction of their families, Chilean lesbians combine tradition with transgression.

HIV risk exposure among South African children in public health facilities

The study investigates the risk exposure to HIV infection among South African children aged 2–9 years served by public health services. Together with their biological mothers, 3471 children and were recruited from inpatient and outpatient children in the Free State Province. Blood samples were taken by professional nurses and a history taken of exposure factors associated with HIV transmission. DNA testing was used to confirm biological maternity where the child was HIV-positive and the mother HIV-negative. Mother-child pairs were stratified by mother's HIV status. Exposure factors related to the child's HIV status were examined in each stratum using a chi-square test. Independent factors were then included in a multiple logistic regression model. Having an HIV-positive mother was strongly related to HIV infection in children (OR: 310; 95%CI: 148–781). However, seven HIV-positive children had HIV-negative mothers. Transmission in this group was significantly associated with breastfeeding by a non-biological mother (OR: 437; 95%CI: 53–5020), being fed with expressed breast milk from a milk room (OR: 37.6; 95%CI: 6.2–259.0), dental injection history (OR: 31.5; 95%CI: 4.5–189.4) and visits to a dentist (OR: 26.9; 95%CI: 4.4–283.5). Although mother-to-child-transmission is shown to be the primary mode of HIV transmission in South African children, the few HIV-positive children infected by other modes of transmission suggest a potential risk of non-vertical HIV infections. These infections can be prevented through education and improved infection-control procedures.

The Social Context of Lesbian Mothers' Anxiety During Early Parenthood

SYNOPSIS Objective . To prospectively explore change in mental health (and, specifically, anxiety) across the transition to parenthood for lesbian mothers. Design . Multilevel modeling was used to analyze data from 34 lesbian couples (68 women) at three time points (prenatal, 3 months postbirth, and 3.5 years after birth) to explore the influence of prenatal characteristics on the level of and change in women's anxiety during early parenthood. Results . Anxiety increased for all new mothers, but predictors of average anxiety and change in anxiety differed somewhat for biological and nonbiological lesbian mothers. For biological mothers, working more hours and doing more housework prenatally were associated with higher average anxiety postnatally. Among nonbiological mothers, lower perceived infant distress and higher perceived instrumental support were associated with less increase in anxiety over time. Conclusion . Early parenthood can be challenging for both biological and nonbiological lesbian mothers, and prenatal and postnatal factors are potentially salient in determining lesbian mothers' adjustment.

The Limits of Functional Family: Lesbian Mother Litigation in the Era of the Eternal Biological Family

This article contends that the ‘functional family’ model falters in the context of lesbian and gay intra-family disputes. Functional family arguments have frequently been misused in disputes between separated lesbian mothers who are contesting issues around children and in disputes between lesbian mothers and known sperm donors/biological fathers. I argue that the rise of fathers’ rights movements and increasing emphasis on biological family gives both discursive and legal authority to essentialised, gendered and symbolic status claims made by biological parents, valorising distant biological fathers over mother-led family units, and separated biological mothers over non-biological mothers. Finding that the functional family approach cannot usefully resist the current ideological climate, the article concludes with an exploration of an alternative: framing a form of status claim for lesbian co-parents based on intentionality.

The Limits of Functional Family: Lesbian Mother Litigation in the Era of the Eternal Biological Family

This article contends that the 'functional family' model falters in the context of lesbian and gay intra-family disputes. Functional family arguments have frequently been misused in disputes between separated lesbian mothers who are contesting issues around children and in disputes between lesbian mothers and known sperm donors/biological fathers. I argue that the rise of fathers' rights movements and increasing emphasis on biological family gives both discursive and legal authority to essentialised, gendered and symbolic status claims made by biological parents, valorising distant biological fathers over mother-led family units, and separated biological mothers over non-biological mothers. Finding that the functional family approach cannot usefully resist the current ideological climate, the article concludes with an exploration of an alternative: framing a form of status claim for lesbian co-parents based on intentionality.

Child adjustment and parenting in planned lesbian-parent families.

One hundred planned lesbian-parent families (i.e., two-mother families in which the child was born to the lesbian relationship) were compared with 100 heterosexual-parent families on child adjustment, parental characteristics, and child rearing. Questionnaires, observations, and a diary of activities were used to collect the data. The results show that especially lesbian social mothers (i.e., nonbiological mothers) differ from heterosexual fathers on parental characteristics (e.g., more parental justification and more satisfaction with the partner as coparent) and child rearing (e.g., more parental concern and less power assertion). Child adjustment is not associated with family type (lesbian-parent families vs. heterosexual-parent families), but is predicted by power assertion, parental concern, and satisfaction with the partner as coparent.

Motherhood Is Not a Given Thing: Experiences and Constructed Meanings of Biological and Nonbiological Lesbian Mothers

This study was designed to examine the subjective experiences of Israeli lesbian mothers. We explored the constructed meanings that both biological and nonbiological mothers relate to their motherhood experience. Eight lesbian couples who were parenting together and who had 1, 2, or 3 children were interviewed. Our data suggest that the birth of the first child to lesbian couples marks a turning point in the lives of each partner, as well as in the lives of the couples, by creating for the first time a significant distinction between the partners. It was found that lesbian mothers tend to organize their experiences into 3 circles of “being”: personal, couple, and communal (e.g., familial and social) aspects. Three themes contribute to the theoretical understanding of lesbian motherhood. First, although lesbian couples are known to value the sense of equality in their relationships, the birth of a child by one of the partners is an event that creates 2 different statuses of motherhood: a biological mother and a nonbiological mother. Second, the legal aspects of lesbian motherhood become a part of everyday life for the lesbian family and shape the partners’ relationship. Third, being both a lesbian and a mother highlights the fundamental dialectic between marginality and mainstream conformity in the life experiences of lesbian mothers in Israeli society.

"About as Solid as a Fish Net": Symbolic Construction of a Legitimate Parental Identity for Nonbiological Lesbian Mothers

Nonbiological lesbian mothers lack not only biological ties to their children, but have no legal ties even if those children are intentionally conceived through donor insemination in the context of a committed relationship. This article explores symbolic attempts to construct the nonbiological mother as a legitimate parent in the absence of such ties. Sixteen families whose children were conceived through donor insemination are analyzed in this study using constructivist grounded theory. Findings suggest that address terms for the nonbiological mother, children's last names, and legal moves are primary symbolic ways lesbian families attempt to construct a legitimate parental identity for the nonbiological mother. These strategies suggest the potential for increased social recognition of nonbiological mothers.

The Transition to Parenthood for Lesbian Couples

While there is a slowly growing literature on lesbians with older children, the literature on the transition to parenthood for lesbian couples is scant. The current study examines aspects of the transition to parenthood experience for 29 lesbian couples. Specifically, this study explores aspects of couples' decision-making regarding alternative insemination (e.g., who would carry and bear the child, donor type), perceptions of social support across the transition to parenthood, and availability and use of legal safeguards (such as wills, powers of attorney, and coparent adoptions by nonbiological mothers). Future studies should explore how single lesbians manage the transition to parenthood. Research on lesbians and gay men who are pursuing parenthood through adoption is also needed.

The birth of an adoptive, foster, or stepmother: Beyond biological mothering attachments.

The Birth of an Adoptive, Foster, or Stepmother: Beyond Biological Mothering Attachments. Barbara Waterman. London and New York: Jessica Kingsley. 2003. 255 pp. ISBN 1-84310-724-4. $24.95 (paper). Barbara Waterman, psychologist-therapist and stepmother to twin girls, has taken on the challenging task of writing about three categories of nonbiological mothers in a relatively brief book. To write a single book that offers insights and practical advice to diverse audiences, including adoptive, foster, and stepmothers, their partners and extended kin, and diverse professionals who work with these families, is an ambitious goal. Although the author reaches outward to these audiences, she also looks inward: At its core, this book is about Waterman's own unsuccessful journey through the adoption roller coaster and her taking on the challenging, but cherished, role as a stepmother to adolescent daughters. So, the personal is intertwined with the academic and the practical. This approach is interesting but it does not make for easy reading. Here are the things I like about this book: First, in addition to relying on her own experience as a therapist and stepmother, Waterman informs her book with examples and anecdotes from more than 30 adoptive, foster, and stepparents who shared their collective with her. Second, she acknowledges the many ways that families can be built. With wisdom and insight, Waterman discusses threads that nonbiological parents ponder and often struggle with alone. In doing so, she challenges commonly held ideas about the meanings of the terms family, mother, and the mother-child attachment. Third, the author offers a kind of road map for forming attachments with their nonbiological children. Fourth, she shows how resources, or the lack thereof, can affect the nature and quality of attachment that emerges between the nonbiological mother and her child. The major weakness of this book is that it is tedious to read. First, the book is structured somewhat atypically. Instead of writing a separate foreword or preface, Waterman chooses to have the first chapter serve this purpose but only in part. In Chapter 1, she also discusses briefly several other topics including the demographics of contemporary families, loss and attachment, mothering versus fathering behaviors, similarities and differences among the nonbiological mothers, and the presence or absence of the biological mother in the lives of the chosen children. The last chapter, entitled Conclusion is not at all a summary of the major points the author tries to make in the previous eight chapters. For this book, a concluding chapter that identifies and links key points is essential. …

From Here to Maternity: A Review of the Research on Lesbian and Gay Families

Introduction Many areas of social and legal policy in Australia affect lesbians, gay men and the children they raise. There is a distinct lack of information about how such families are formed and how they function. In the absence of good quality information, decision-makers and policy-makers may either ignore the existence of such families, or proceed on the basis of assumptions that may be inappropriately drawn or inaccurate. Judith Stacy and Timothy Biblarz note (in the context of the US): [T]he consequences of [research into lesbian and gay families] ... bear on marriage and family policies that encode Western culture's most profoundly held convictions about gender, sexuality, and parenthood. As advocates and opponents square off in state and federal courts and legislatures, in the electoral arena, and in culture wars over efforts to extend to nonheterosexuals equal rights to marriage, child custody, adoption, foster care, and fertility services, they heatedly debate the implications of a youthful body of research, conducted primarily by psychologists, that investigates if and how the sexual orientation of parents affects children. (1) There remains a presumption in much legal and social policy that lesbian and gay parenting is suspect, second-rate or harmful to children. The sexuality of a parent is still a factor to be taken into account in Family Court decisions on residence and contact with children, to determine whether it is harmful. (2) No state in Australia allows a lesbian couple or gay male couple to apply to adopt a child together as joint parents (3) nor does there appear to be any political will to change this. (4) The exclusion from ability to adopt operates even in Western Australia, which has recently passed the most broad-ranging legislation in Australia recognising same-sex relationships (including, more remarkably, a presumption that the non-biological mother is the parent of the child for all legal purposes in state law if the child is born through donor insemination and she is the consenting de facto partner of the mother.) (5) Access to fertility services for lesbians and single heterosexual women has been widely debated in Australia since 2000 as a result of a challenge brought to restrictive fertility legislation, and the lengthy legislative aftermath and appeal process once the decision was handed down. In 2000, John McBain, the doctor of Leesa Meldrum, challenged provisions in the law of Victoria limiting access to fertility services in that state to married and heterosexual de facto couples. (6) The restrictive legislation was found to be in breach of federal law prohibiting marital status discrimination. (7) The media uproar that followed principally focused on lesbian mothers, even though Ms Meldrum herself was heterosexual. (8) While the Victorian government accepted the decision (and indeed did not take an active part in defending proceedings), the Federal Government responded to the decision by attempting to amend the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) to permit states to discriminate against lesbians and single heterosexual women in the provision of fertility services if they so chose. A Senate Inquiry recommended against the Bill and it failed to pass the Senate. (9) The Commonwealth then took the unprecedented step of granting a fiat to the Catholic Bishops Conference to seek to overturn the McBain decision in the High Court (this allowed the Bishops to bring proceedings even though they were not parties to the original case and the original respondent, the State of Victoria, had accepted the decision). (10) The High Court ultimately upheld the original decision. (11) Meanwhile, the administrative agency responsible for licensing fertility services in Victorian interpreted the McBain ruling as applicable only to medically infertile and not to socially infertile women. Thus, lesbians and single heterosexual women who required IVF were made eligible to receive treatment, but women who want access to safe and/or anonymous sperm, because they cannot or do not wish to conceive with a man, continue to be excluded from fertility services in Victoria to date. …

Prediction of the Gross Motor Development Quotient in Young Children Prenatally Exposed to Cocaine/Polydrugs

The purpose was to determine predictors of the gross motor development quotient of the Test of Gross Motor Development (Ulrich, 1985) for young children prenatally exposed to cocaine/polydrugs. Data were collected on 11 variables hypothesized to influence young children’s development. Participants were 28 children (15 males, 13 females), ages 3 to 6 years, exposed prenatally to cocaine/polydrugs and their nonbiological mothers (i.e., primary care providers). Multiple regression procedures indicated support for the hypothesis that the gross motor development quotient is predicted by the interaction of the child’s effortful control, the primary care provider’s understanding and confidence, and the amount of early intervention service the child received. Correlational analysis supported the hypothesis that with this group of children, early motor skill did not predict delay in the gross motor development quotient at ages 3 to 6 years.

How Hungry is the Selfish Gene?

We examine resource allocation in step-households in the United States and South Africa to test whether child investments vary according to economic and genetic bonds between parent and child. In the United States, households spend less on food when a child is raised by a nonbiological mother. The reduction is identical for step, adoptive, and foster households, consistent with the hypothesis that genetic ties are the ones that binds. In South Africa, where food spending can be disaggregated, households spend less on milk, fruit and vegetables, and more on tobacco and alcohol, in the absence of a child's birth mother. Family living arrangements have changed dramatically in the United States in a generation. Children in the middle of the century were, on the whole, born to married parents, with whom they lived until adulthood. In the United States today, over half of all children will live apart from at least one parent before reaching age 18 (Bumpass and Sweet, 1989), and a majority of these children will live with a step parent or foster parent. Until recently, most academics were not very concerned about changes in children's family structures. During the 1970s, single parenthood was viewed as a time of transition (Ross and Sawhill, 1975) between divorce and remarriage, and step families were considered to be good substitutes for original twoparent families. Since the 1980s, however, several developments have challenged this optimistic view. First, declines in remarriage have lead to extended periods of high poverty for single mothers and their children, undermining the notion that single parenthood is a time of transition. Second, a growing body of research has shown that children raised by only one of their parents are less successful than children raised by both their parents, when measured across a broad array of outcomes. Although some of these disadvantages are due to characteristics of the parents that predate divorce, there is mounting evidence that parent-absence itself plays at least some causal role in reducing children's life chances. (McLanahan and Sandefur, 1994; Haveman and Wolfe, 1994). A primary mechanism behind the

Division of labor among lesbian and heterosexual parents: Associations with children's adjustment.

This study compared lesbian and heterosexual parents' division of household labor, satisfaction with division of labor, satisfaction with couple relationships, and associations of these variables with psychological adjustment of children. Participating lesbian (n = 30) and heterosexual (n = 16) couples all became parents by using anonymous donor insemination and had at least I child of elementary-school age. Although both lesbian and heterosexual couples reported relatively equal divisions of paid employment and of household and decision-making tasks, lesbian biological and nonbiological mothers shared child-care tasks more equally than did heterosexual parents. Among lesbian nonbiological mothers, those more satisfied with the division of family decisions in the home were also more satisfied with their relationships and had children who exhibited fewer externalizing behavior problems. The effect of division of labor on children's adjustment was mediated by parents' relationship satisfaction.