Families created through surrogacy: Mother–child relationships and children's psychological adjustment at age 7

Each year, an increasing number of children are born through surrogacy and thus lack a genetic and/or gestational link with their mother. This study examined the impact of surrogacy on mother-child relationships and children's psychological adjustment. Assessments of maternal positivity, maternal negativity, mother-child interaction, and child adjustment were administered to 32 surrogacy, 32 egg donation, and 54 natural conception families with a 7-year-old child. No differences were found for maternal negativity, maternal positivity, or child adjustment, although the surrogacy and egg donation families showed less positive mother-child interaction than the natural conception families. The findings suggest that both surrogacy and egg donation families function well in the early school years. © 2011 American Psychological Association

Children conceived by gamete donation: Psychological adjustment and mother-child relationships at age 7

An increasing number of babies are being born using donated sperm, where the child lacks a genetic link to the father, or donated eggs, where the child lacks a genetic link to the mother. This study examined the impact of telling children about their donor conception on mother-child relationships and children's psychological adjustment. Assessments of maternal positivity, maternal negativity, mother-child interaction, and child adjustment were administered to 32 egg donation, 36 donor insemination, and 54 natural conception families with a 7-year-old child. Although no differences were found for maternal negativity or child adjustment, mothers in nondisclosing gamete donation families showed less positive interaction than mothers in natural conception families, suggesting that families may benefit from openness about the child's genetic origins. © 2011 American Psychological Association

Perspectives, experiences, and choices of parents of children conceived following oocyte donation

This paper reports on and discusses the findings of an online survey initiated by the Donor Sibling Registry of 108 parents of children conceived following oocyte donation. Respondents generally supported early disclosure of donor conception to the child, although some bias in favour of disclosure cannot be excluded, given the recruitment source. Even so, extensive uncertainty regarding the optimum time for disclosure was evident. Around half of the parents who had either expressly chosen (50.0%), or had been given no choice of, an anonymous donor (54.1%) subsequently wished they had used an open-identity donor. A total of 87% of respondents showed interest in identifying and making contact with their donor and with other families containing children sharing the same donor, and 19% had already made such contact. The survey revealed considerable variations in respondents’ experiences of clinic practices regarding the availability of counselling, information provided about choice of donor type, advice regarding disclosure and the reporting of births, indicating keys areas for improved professional practice. This paper reports on and discusses the findings of an online survey initiated by the Donor Sibling Registry of 108 parents of children conceived following ooctye donation. Respondents generally supported early disclosure of donor conception to the child, although extensive uncertainty regarding the optimum time for disclosure was evident. Around half of the parents who had either expressly chosen, or had been given no choice of, an anonymous donor subsequently wished they had used an open identity donor. A number of respondents showed interest in identifying and making contact with their donor and with other families containing children sharing the same donor, and a minority had already made such contact. The survey revealed considerable variations in respondents’ experiences of clinic practices regarding the availability of counselling, information provided about choice of donor type, advice regarding disclosure and the reporting of births, indicating keys areas for improved professional practice

Internet-delivered cognitive therapy for social anxiety disorder:a development pilot series

BACKGROUND: Randomized controlled trials have established that individual cognitive therapy based on the Clark and Wells (1995) model is an effective treatment for social anxiety disorder that is superior to a range of alternative psychological and pharmacological interventions. Normally the treatment involves up to 14 weekly face-to-face therapy sessions. AIM: To develop an internet based version of the treatment that requires less therapist time. METHOD: An internet-delivered version of cognitive therapy (iCT) for social anxiety disorder is described. The internet-version implements all key features of the face-to-face treatment; including video feedback, attention training, behavioural experiments, and memory focused techniques. Therapist support is via a built-in secure messaging system and by brief telephone calls. A cohort of 11 patients meeting DSM-IV criteria for social anxiety disorder worked through the programme and were assessed at pretreatment and posttreatment. RESULTS: No patients dropped out. Improvements in social anxiety and related process variables were within the range of those observed in randomized controlled trials of face-to-face CT. Nine patients (82%) were classified as treatment responders and seven (64%) achieved remission status. Therapist time per patient was only 20% of that in face-to-face CT. CONCLUSIONS: iCT shows promise as a way of reducing therapist time without compromising efficacy. Further evaluation of iCT is ongoing

Secrecy, disclosure and everything in-between: Decisions of parents of children conceived by donor insemination, egg donation and surrogacy

Abstract This study examined families where children lack a genetic and/or gestational link with their parents. A total of 101 families (36 donor insemination families, 32 egg donation families and 33 surrogacy families) were interviewed when the child was aged 7 years. Despite a shift in professional attitudes towards openness, about half of the children conceived by egg donation and nearly three-quarters of those conceived by donor insemination remained unaware that the person they know as their mother or father is not, in fact, their genetic parent. By contrast, almost all the surrogacy parents had told their child how they were born. A majority of parents who planned never to tell their child about their conception had told at least one other person. However, qualitative data indicated that to categorize families as 'secret' or 'open' is inadequate. In fact many parents engage in 'layers' of disclosure about their child's conception, both with their child and with family and friends. © 2011, Reproductive Healthcare Ltd. All rights reserved

The university and the public good

Universities have flourished in the modern era as central public institutions and bases for critical thought. They are currently challenged by a variety of social forces and undergoing a deep transformation in both their internal structure and their relationship to the rest of society. Critical theorists need to assess this both in order to grasp adequately the social conditions of their own work and because the transformation of universities is central to a more general intensification of social inequality, privatization of public institutions, and reorganization of the relation of access to knowledge. This is also a pivotal instance for asking basic questions about the senses in which the university is or may be ‘public’: (1) where does its money come from? (2) who governs? (3) who benefits? and (4) how is knowledge produced and circulated