CHILDREN CONCEIVED VIA DONOR INSEMINATION
DEVELOP NORMALLY, STUDY SHOWS

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., April 9 -- Children conceived via donor
insemination to lesbian and heterosexual mothers are developing
normally, according to University of Virginia research presented at an
international conference last week.
	In a study of 80 families living in 22 states, both parents
and teachers reported that the children are well-adjusted, socially
competent and exhibiting no unusual behavior problems, according to
Raymond Chan, a researcher in U.Va.'s psychology department. 
	The study found that children's adjustment is not related to
parents' sexual orientation. Children's well-being was found to be
more a function of parenting and relationships within the family than
of household composition.
	"The idea that only heterosexual parents can raise healthy
children is certainly not supported by the findings," said Chan, a
doctoral student who conducted the research with Charlotte J.
Patterson, an associate professor of psychology well-known for her
studies of lesbian and gay parents and their children. Barbara Raboy,
executive director of the Sperm Bank of California was another
researcher in the study.
	"From the data on children's social competence and behavior
problems, it was impossible to distinguish which children were born to
and brought up by lesbian parents and which by heterosexual parents,"
Patterson said.
	Families in the study had conceived children using the
resources of the Sperm Bank of California.  Fifty families were headed
by couples and 30 by single parents.
	Family types included heterosexual couples, single
heterosexual mothers, lesbian couples and single lesbian mothers.  The
average age of children in the study was 7, and biological mothers
averaged 42 years of age.  Data were collected on children from both
parents and teachers using widely recognized assessment measures.
	The study collected data in three areas: child adjustment,
parental adjustment and parental relationship satisfaction.  When
compared with widely published norms, the findings reveal that
children conceived via donor insemination are developing well.
	Presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research
on Child Development last week in Washington, D.C., the research by
Chan, Raboy and Patterson was one of three independent studies that
found that children of lesbian and gay parents are developing
normally. The other studies were conducted in the United Kingdom and
the Netherlands. 
	The study also found ties between parents' satisfaction with
their relationships and children's well-being.  Both biological and
non-biological parents who reported greater conflict with their
partners described their children as having more behavior problems. 
	"Parents who were undergoing more stress had children who
experienced more behavior problems. This was reported by both parents
and teachers," said Chan.
	Among families headed by couples, children were rated as
better adjusted when their parents reported greater relationship
satisfaction, higher levels of love and lower interparental conflict.
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April 8, 1997
	For more information:  contact Raymond Chan at (804) 243-8164
or via rwc8d@virginia.edu or Charlotte Patterson at (804) 924-0664 or
via cjp@virginia.edu.