Contact among families who share the same sperm donor.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the experience of contact among families who share the same sperm donor and the purpose served by contact.


METHODS
Study 1: retrospective survey; study 2: archival data analysis.


METHODS
Donor insemination (DI) program.


METHODS
Study 1: 14 parents from the first cohort of matched families; study 2: Archival data about 515 families from the DI program.


METHODS
Study 1: Interview of parents via anonymous mail-back survey; study 2: none.


METHODS
Study 1: Survey questions focused on the family, contact experience, and relationship to the matched family. Study 2: Comparison of families in the matching service to DI program families on family structure, parity, and type of donor (anonymous or open-identity).


RESULTS
Study 1: Single women and lesbian couples headed most families. Parents reported positive experiences with contact. Reasons for contact focused on creating family for the child and addressing questions about the donor. Study 2: Families with open-identity donors and those headed by single women were overrepresented in the matching service; heterosexual couple-headed families were underrepresented.


CONCLUSIONS
Findings indicate positive outcomes for contact among families who share the same donor. Contact appears to serve the purpose of creating extended family for the child and may also help answer questions about the donor.
Scheib
Joanna E
JE
Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, California 95616, USA. jescheib@ucdavis.edu
Ruby
Alice
A
D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D018452:Homosexuality, Female / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007316:Insemination, Artificial, Heterologous / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011247:Pregnancy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012801:Sibling Relations; D020954:Single-Parent Family / Q000523:psychology; D012919:Social Behavior; D013094:Spermatozoa; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000523:psychology*; D014342:Truth Disclosure