Egg and Sperm Donors: Parental Identity Formation

Development of the contemporary post-industrial society entails the increasing diversity of family life models. People, making individual choices in this field, face new challenges related to identity formation. In the text presented this issue is discussed on the example of women bringing up children in same-sex relationships. The article presents basic information on the same-sex parenting, underlines the importance of the idea of identity integration in psychology and stresses the lack of contiguity between theories of parental identity development and these ones of homosexual and bisexual identity development. An extensive discussion of the Vivienne Cass’s theory of sexual orientation identity development is the basis for the approximation of potential discrepancies in the identity system of non-heterosexual women taking parental roles. Two main factors relevant to the processes of identity formation were distinguished: the order of the development of the sexual orientation identity and parental identity (the planned and reconstructed families differ in this regard) and the way of establishing and maintaining the relationship with the child (other challenges are faced by biological and social mothers). In the summary, questions requiring future empirical exploration were notified.

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How Good It Would Be to Turn Back Time: Adult Attachment and Perfectionism in Mothers and Their Relationships with the Processes of Parental Identity Formation

Psychologica Belgica ◽

10.5334/pb.492 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 60 (1) ◽

pp. 55 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Konrad Piotrowski

Keyword(s):

Identity Formation ◽

Adult Attachment ◽

Parental Identity

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How good it would be to turn back time: Adult attachment and perfectionism in mothers and their relationships with the processes of parental identity formation

10.31234/osf.io/ka6pz ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Konrad Piotrowski

Keyword(s):

Identity Formation ◽

Adult Attachment ◽

Attachment Anxiety ◽

Identity Commitment ◽

Parental Identity ◽

Practical Implications ◽

Reconsideration Of Commitment

In the present study the relationships between dimensions of parental identity (commitment, in-depth exploration, reconsideration of commitment), romantic adult attachment (anxiety and avoidance in a relationship) and perfectionism (self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed) were analyzed. 206 mothers aged 22 to 40 participated in the study (M = 33.33, SD = 3.68). The results revealed that both adult attachment and perfectionism correlate with parental identity. In particular, attachment-related anxiety and other-oriented perfectionism can be treated as independent, specific predictors of an increased crisis of parental identity, manifested in low identification with the role of the parent and in regret of becoming one. The article discusses theoretical and practical implications of the research and suggestions for further studies.

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