Donor insemination, the impact on family and child development

Abstract

The practice of donor insemination (DI) has undergone major changes in the past 20 years. Attention was paid to the long-term psychological effects, the pleas for openness became stronger over the years and the use of anonymous donors became subject to public debate in several countries. The present article reviews what empirical research there is into DI families and their children. Over the years follow up studies have appeared sporadically and in spite of the varying quality of the research methods, preliminary findings have emerged. Research into the confidentiality issue in DI couples revealed that 47-92% of the DI parents intended to keep the donor origin secret from their children. DI couples just starting treatment more often intended to tell their children the DI origin than those who already had children. It is, however, too early to tell whether the public pleas for more openness did affect attitudes of the DI patients themselves. Research into the psychological well-being of DI parents and children failed to reveal major psychological problems. DI parents appeared to be well adjusted and to have stable marital relationships. DI children did not show significantly more emotional disturbances than controls. The quality of the parent-child relationship was better in the DI group than in the controls of naturally conceived parents.