Stress and Resilience Experiences during the Transition to Parenthood among Belgian Lesbian Mothers through Donor Insemination

Salvatore D’Amore, Alexandre Maurisse, Alessio Gubello () and Nicola Carone
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Salvatore D’Amore: Centre de Recherche de Psychologie du Développement, de la Famille et des Systèmes Humains (DéFaSy), Faculté des Sciences Psychologiques et de l’Education, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Alexandre Maurisse: Centre de Recherche de Psychologie du Développement, de la Famille et des Systèmes Humains (DéFaSy), Faculté des Sciences Psychologiques et de l’Education, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Alessio Gubello: Centre de Recherche de Psychologie du Développement, de la Famille et des Systèmes Humains (DéFaSy), Faculté des Sciences Psychologiques et de l’Education, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Nicola Carone: Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 4, 1-14

Abstract: The present research explored parenting, stress, and resilience experiences among 16 Belgian, lesbian, first-time parental couples with donor-conceived children aged 3–72 months. In each couple, both mothers participated in a conjoint, semi-structured interview focused on their parenthood desire; the impact of stigmatization and social support from families of origin, friends, and institutions; and couple and family resources. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s reflective thematic analysis. Four themes were identified: (1) “The precious baby”: Realizing the parenthood project; (2) “Can we show ourselves in public without prying eyes?”: Family social visibility; (3) “It’s complicated!”: Parental legal recognition and role imbalance; and (4) “How can we handle this?”: Family resilience. The themes indicated that the child’s donor conception, the parents’ coming out, the non-gestational mother’s role, the legal obstacles encountered, and the need to find a balance between the two mothers in childcare tasks generated stress and required mothers to develop resilience strategies. The results suggest several potential areas for mental health practitioners to explore in clinical contexts when supporting intended lesbian mothers in their transition to parenthood through donor insemination.

Keywords: lesbian mothers; donor insemination; sexual minority parenting; parenting stress; resilience; stigmatization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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