A study led by Dr Sophie Zadeh at the Centre for Family Research and presented at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Helsinki suggests that children born to single women are generally well adjusted, with positive feelings about family life, although they do raise questions about the absence of a father in their families. "Indeed," said researcher Dr Sophie Zadeh, "at the age at which children begin to understand their family circumstances, they continue to function well." The study, said Dr Zadeh, is the first to examine child adjustment and children's perspectives in solo mother families at an age at which children are old enough to understand their family circumstances and what it means to grow up without a father - and the only study to assess children's own reports about their social and family experiences. "Between the ages of 4 and 9, donor-conceived children in solo mother families generally seem to be doing well," said Dr Zadeh. "However, we don't yet know how these children will fare over time, or what they will think and feel about being donor-conceived and/or growing up without a father in the home as they grow older. "In general, our findings seem to suggest that what matters most for children's outcomes in solo mother families is not the absence of a father, nor donor conception, but the quality of parenting, and positive parent-child relationships. These findings therefore echo much of what we already know about the determinants of children's psychological adjustment in other family types." Links: Press Release (pdf) Publication: 'Single mothers by choice: Mother–child relationships and children’s psychological adjustment', Golombok, Susan; Zadeh, Sophie; Imrie, Susan; Smith, Venessa; Freeman, Tabitha Journal of Family Psychology, Vol 30(4), Jun 2016, 409-418. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/fam0000188