ALL SHAPES AND SIZES: DOES FAMILY STRUCTURE MATTER FOR THE PSYCHOLOGICAL WELLBEING OF THE CHILD?
PROFESSOR SUSAN GOLOMBOK Director, Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge
Date/Time: 4th March 2008, 17:30
TO HEAR A RECORDING OF THIS LECTURE
This presentation will examine the scientific evidence on what really matters for children’s healthy psychological development. The lecture will consider whether it is necessary to have two parents, a father present, parents who have a genetic link with their child, or parents who are heterosexual. The lecture will also explore the psychological processes that underlie optimal development for children, particularly the quality of the child’s relationship with parents, other family members and the wider social world. As well as for students and researchers, the lecture will be of interest to parents and those embarking on a non-traditional route to parenthood, professionals working with families and those involved in family policy.
Susan Golombok is Professor of Family Research and Director of the Centre for Family Research in the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Cambridge, and a Professorial Fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge. She is a leading international authority on the effects of non-traditional families on children’s development. Susan began her academic career in London, first at the Institute of Psychiatry and then as Professor of Psychology and Director of the Family and Child Psychology Research Centre at City University. Her research focuses on the impact on children’s social, emotional and identity development, and on parent-child relationships, of being reared in new family forms, including lesbian mother families, solo mother families, and families created by assisted reproduction procedures such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF), donor insemination, egg donation and surrogacy. She has written many academic papers on this subject and several books including “Parenting: What really counts?” and as co-author “Growing up in a lesbian family”. She is a Trustee of the Laura Ashley Foundation, One Plus One and the Brazelton Foundation.