Sensitivity and attachment in sexual minority parent families: Differences by parent gender and caregiving role

Introduction In heterosexual parent families maternal, but not paternal, sensitivity is a significant precursor of child attachment security. In this family type, however, parent gender and caregiving role likely conflate, with mothers usually being the primary caregivers. Sexual minority parent families offer the unique opportunity to disentangle the effect of caregiving role from parent gender on sensitivity. Yet, to date, no research on this issue has involved these families. Furthermore, given the belief that mothers are fundamentally better suited for parenting than fathers and that surrogacy conception is detrimental for child development, concerns have been expressed particularly against parenting by gay fathers and, as a result, the attachment security of their children. Aim This study compared parental sensitivity and child attachment security in lesbian and gay parent families through assisted reproduction. Also, it investigated whether the longitudinal associations between parental sensitivity and child attachment security varied by parent gender and/or caregiving role. Material and Methods 34 Italian lesbian mother families through donor insemination and 31 Italian gay father families through surrogacy were assessed for caregiving roles, parental sensitivity, and child attachment using the Who Does What? Questionnaire, the Maternal Behavior Q-Set and the Attachment Q-Sort, respectively, during two home visits at each time point (t1: Mage = 3 years; t2: Mage = 4 years). In each family, both parents and their first-born preschool child participated (52% females). Conclusions Both parental sensitivity and child attachment security were similar to normative scores. However, both the primary caregiver showed greater sensitivity and children displayed greater attachment security to their primary caregiver. Finally, the strength of the association between sensitivity and attachment security by caregiving role was similar across family types. The results emphasize the importance to disentagle the caregiving role from parent gender while examining child-parent attachment across diverse families.