Donor Insemination: a Follow-up Study of Disclosure Decisions, Family Relationships and Child Adjustment at Adolescence

The call for greater openness about gamete donation highlights the need to assess the long-term implications of telling donor-conceived children about their origins. This longitudinal study examined the consequences of secrecy versus openness about donor insemination (DI) for family relationships and child adjustment at adolescence. Thirty heterosexual families with an adolescent (aged 10-14 years) conceived by anonymous DI were assessed using standardized measures of parent-child and marital relationships, and parents' and adolescents' psychological wellbeing. Ten (33%) adolescents had been told about their donor conception. The only differences found between disclosed and non-disclosed families concerned parent-child relationships. In particular, whilst disclosure was associated with lower levels of conflict between mothers and sons, adolescents who were aware of their donor origins reported less warm father-child relationships than those who had not been told. This is of interest given that identity issues and a fuller understanding of donor conception are likely to arise at adolescence. However, differences between disclosing and non-disclosing families cannot be directly attributed to parents' disclosure decisions. Overall, these findings suggest that openness about DI does not create significant difficulties for family functioning or child adjustment and that a child's age and sex may be important in assessing the impact of secrecy and disclosure.