Father-child bonding and mental health in gay fathers using cross-border surrogacy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reprod Biomed Online
; 43(4): 756-764, 2021 10.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1366670
ABSTRACT
RESEARCH QUESTION What are the psychological implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for father-child bonding and mental health among Italian gay fathers pursuing surrogacy in the USA or Canada? DESIGN:
Between 20 March and 29 July 2020, this cross-sectional case-control study collected data on father-child bonding quality, depression, anxiety and somatization in 30 Italian gay fathers (n=15 families) who were having or successfully had a child through cross-border surrogacy during the COVID-19 pandemic. These fathers were compared with a sociodemographically similar group of 50 Italian gay fathers (n=25 families) who had children through cross-border surrogacy prior to the pandemic.RESULTS:
Although father-child bonding quality and the mental health symptoms of fathers scored below the clinical cut-off points in both groups, fathers who had or were having a child during the COVID-19 pandemic reported poorer father-child bonding (estimate 3.04, SE 1.47, P=0.044) and more depressive (estimate -1.47, SE 0.49, P=0.005), anxious (estimate -1.96, SE 0.55, P<0.001) and somatic symptoms (estimate -2.48, SE 0.52, P<0.001).CONCLUSIONS:
The findings call for the development of international guidelines for cross-border surrogacy and underline the need for tailored and ongoing psychological and legal support for intended gay fathers to ease their strain and anxiety related to having a child through cross-border surrogacy during the COVID-19 pandemic.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Parenting
/
Homosexuality, Male
/
Fathers
/
COVID-19
/
Object Attachment
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
North America
/
Europa
Language:
English
Journal:
Reprod Biomed Online
Journal subject:
Reproductive Medicine
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS