title: Parenting infants conceived by gamete donation.
abstract: In recent years, concerns have been raised regarding the potentially negative consequences of gamete donation for parent-child relationships. Findings are presented of a study of families with an infant conceived by gamete donation. Fifty donor insemination families and 51 egg donation families were compared with 80 natural conception families on standardized interview and questionnaire measures of the psychological well-being of the parents, the quality of parent-child relationships, and infant temperament. The differences that were identified indicated more positive parent-child relationships among the gamete donation than the natural conception parents, accompanied by greater emotional involvement with the child. Comparisons were also carried out between the donor insemination and the egg donation parents on their experiences of gamete donation. In contrast to the findings of earlier investigations, the donor insemination and egg donation parents appeared to be more open toward disclosing the donor conception to the child. It was concluded that infants conceived by egg or sperm donation did not appear to be at risk for parenting difficulties.
authors.affiliation: Family and Child Psychology Research Centre, City University, London, United Kingdom. S.E.Golombok@city.ac.uk
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Golombok
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lycett
authors.forename: Fiona
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: MacCallum
authors.forename: Vasanti
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Jadva
authors.forename: Clare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rust
authors.forename: Hossam
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Abdalla
authors.forename: Julian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jenkins
authors.forename: Raoul
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Margara
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007316:Insemination, Artificial, Heterologous / Q000523:psychology*; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D018587:Oocyte Donation / Q000523:psychology*; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010552:Personality Assessment; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000523:psychology; D014342:Truth Disclosure