Surrogate children More Likely to Suffer Emotional Difficulties: Study

Although the practice of surrogacy has become extremely common, it still remains controversial.  A latest British study highlights the emotional difficulties faced by children who are born to surrogate mothers.  

The study led by Susan Golombok, a professor of family research and director of the Centre for Family Research at the University of Cambridge discovered that those kids who are born to a surrogate mother might develop adjustment problems by the age of 7 compared to kids born to their biological mother.

According to the study, children find it difficult to accept the fact that they were born to surrogate mothers and they might develop emotional issues while coping with the fact.

Researchers followed 30 surrogacy families, 35 sperm donation families, 31 egg donation families and 53 natural conception families. The researchers studied them till the children reached the age of 10. The mothers were separately surveyed by the researchers when the children reached the age of 3, 7 and 10 to know how well the kids adjusted, reports Today.com.

In terms of behavioral adjustment, the researchers noticed no difference in the kids who were born through egg and sperm donation or those born to biological parents. The problem doesn't occur until they reach adolescence, a time when they start seeking their own identity.

"Signs of adjustment problems could be behavior problems, such as aggressive or antisocial behavior, or emotional problems, such as anxiety or depression. Adolescence is a potentially difficult for those born through egg or sperm donation or surrogacy. We hope to revisit the children next year when they are 14 years-old, as issues to do with identity become important in adolescence. This is also a time when relationships with parents can become more difficult," Golombok said in a press statement.

The experts suggest that the parents should find a right way to reveal to the kids about their true origin.

Data according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine state that babies conceived in the U.S. through a donated egg had risen by more than 30 percent between 2004 and 2011. During the same period, the number of births through surrogacy increased by 200 percent from 530 to 1,179, reports Daily Mail.

The study details were published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.