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We are searching for families willing to take part in a study investigating children’s mental representations about their parents. The study is organized by the department of psychology at Ã…bo Akademi University.

The well-being of children living with same-sex parents has been widely investigated, with results showing that children in these families are no worse off than children living with different-sex parents. In contrast very little is known about children’s mental representations of different-sex and same-sex parents, and in the present study we aim to investigate these representations.

 

Participation in the study is possible in Helsinki, Turku, Tampere and Pietarsaari. We will carry out the experiments during November and December. Due to the design of the study, it would be important that both parents have been present in the child’s life from an early stage, and both are living with the child. The eldest or firstborn child, who currently is 4-12 years old, can participate in the study. We are looking for families with two same-sex parents, of which one is the child’s biological parent.

 

The experiment consists of four tasks that the child performs assisted by the researcher. The assignments take 1-2 hours to complete. The tasks are designed to be fun and simple for the child to perform. The tasks can be done in Swedish or Finnish, in accordance with which of these is the stronger language of the child. Psychology student Heidi Martelin will perform the tests under supervision of Jan Antfolk, Doctor of Psychology. 

 

Parents will be asked to fill in a survey about parenthood, which can be completed in Swedish or Finnish. All results will be saved anonymously. The results will only be analyzed and reported in the aggregate; therefore the results of an individual participant cannot be recognized. The participation in the study can be discontinued at any point during the experiment or afterwards.

 

Your participation in the study would give us valuable information about children’s psychological functioning. All participating families will be offered participation in a lottery of two family visits to Heureka, or a similar destination nearby the hometown of the participant. If you are interested to take part in the study, or have questions regarding the experiment, we ask you to contact research assistant Heidi Martelin (heidi.martelin@abo.fi). We also ask interested families to suggest a convenient date of participation by email.

 

Kind regards,

 

Heidi Martelin, research assistant

Jan Antfolk, university researcher

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