Donor insemination: child development and family functioning in lesbian mother families

Findings are presented of a comparative study investigating the family relationships and the emotional and gender development of children raised in lesbian mother families. A total of 30 lesbian mother families with 4-8 year old children created as a result of donor insemination (DI) were compared with 38 heterosexual families with a DI child and with 30 heterosexual families who had a naturally conceived child. A variety of assessment measures, including a standardized interview and questionnaires from the parents and psychological testing of the child were used to collect the data. The quality of the couples' relationships and the quality of the mother-child interaction did not differ between lesbian mother families and either of the heterosexual family groups. The quality of the interaction between the social mother and the child in lesbian families was superior to that between the father and the child in both groups of heterosexual families. Childrens' own perception of their parents was similar in all family types; the social mother in lesbian families was regarded by the child to be as much a 'parent' as the father in both types of heterosexual families. With regard to their emotional/behavioural development, boys and girls raised in lesbian mother families were well adjusted and their gender role development did not differ from that of children raised in heterosexual families. These results indicate that child and family development in lesbian mother families is similar to that of heterosexual families.      

Donor insemination: Dutch parents' opinions about confidentiality and donor anonymity and the emotional adjustment of their children

Results from a comparative study investigating 38 donor insemination (DI) Dutch families with 4-8 year old children are presented. The aims of this study were to investigate parents' opinions on the issues of confidentiality and donor anonymity, to assess the emotional development of the children, and to examine in DI families the association between secrecy with regard to the use of a donor and the emotional adjustment of the children. The DI families were compared to families with a child conceived by in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and to families with a naturally conceived child. Secrecy appeared to be associated with DI and not with IVF: 74% of the DI parents intended not to inform the child about the way in which she/he was conceived, whereas none of the IVF parents intended to keep the secret. Only one set of DI parents and two sets of IVF parents had actually told the child. As to donor anonymity, a spread of opinions appeared among DI parents; 57% preferred an anonymous donor, 31% would have liked non- identifying information about the donor, 9% preferred the donor's identity to be registered and 3% remained unsure. Parents' major concern was to know more about the medical/genetic background of the donor. Mothers and fathers in the DI families differed in their opinions concerning the issues of confidentiality and donor anonymity: fathers, more often than mothers, were secretive with regard to the use of a donor and husbands, more often than their wives, were in favour of donor anonymity. With regard to the emotional development of the children, more emotional/behavioural problems were revealed among DI children than among children who were naturally conceived. No association was found between secrecy and the emotional/behavioural adjustment of the children.      

Health-related quality of life in relation to gender and age in couples planning IVF treatment

BACKGROUND: Specific subgroups of people planning IVF might be at risk of having more psychological or health-related problems. Identification of subgroups at risk may better enable allocation of appropriate counselling. METHODS: A group of 425 men and 447 women planning to undergo IVF treatment filled out a questionnaire. Four domains of health-related quality of life were measured, namely perceived emotional, physical, cognitive and social functioning. RESULTS: Young men and women (aged 21-30 years) planning IVF had more short-term social and emotional problems than people of the same age group in the general population. No substantial differences were found in cognitive and physical functioning for all age groups of men nor women planning IVF compared with the general population. A high level of irrational parenthood cognitions substantially accounted for a less optimal score on all the different domains of quality of life. These cognitions ('needing a child in order to live a happy life') were especially prevalent among younger women. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with high levels of irrational parenthood cognitions are at risk of a less optimal quality of life. A short cognitive counselling therapy is advised for patients with high levels of these cognitions.     

Anonymous or identity-registered sperm donors? A study of Dutch recipients' choices

BACKGROUND: The aim of the present study was to gain insight into parents' own donor preferences within a system offering the choice between an anonymous and identity-registered donor. A comparison was made between recipients choosing for an anonymous donor (AD choosers) and those choosing for an identifiable donor (ID choosers) with regard to their sexual orientation, demographic characteristics, disclosure issues and infertility distress. METHODS: Data from 105 couples (61% heterosexual, 39% lesbian) were registered on a standardized form during implication counselling sessions previous to treatment. RESULTS: Sixty-three per cent of the heterosexual couples and 98% of the lesbian couples had chosen an ID donor. Major differences between ID and AD choosers were identified. Among the ID choosers secrecy towards the child was no option, whereas 83% of the AD choosers did not intend to inform their child. Compared with heterosexual ID choosers, AD choosers were more distressed about their infertility and had a lower educational level. CONCLUSION: Legislation imposing ID donors appears to be acceptable for the majority of this study population. For a vulnerable group of heterosexual couples, who remained secretive about the use of a donor, adaptation to the new system is not self-evident.     

An attempt to reconstruct children's donor concept: a comparison between children's and lesbian parents' attitudes towards donor anonymity

BACKGROUND: This study investigated the donor concept of children who were born by means of donor insemination (DI), and their lesbian parents. METHODS: A total of 41 children aged between 7 and 17 years, and 45 parents, took part in the follow-up study. In-depth topic interviews were used to reconstruct how DI children and their mothers perceived the donor. Data were collected about the birth story, about children's conversations with their mothers concerning donor characteristics and about children's and parents' attitudes towards the status of the donor. RESULTS: 54% of these children preferred donor anonymity at this point in their life, whereas 46% wanted to know more about the donor. The majority of the latter group would have liked to know the donor's identity, with boys outnumbering girls. The remaining children of this group were content with non-identifying information. Children wanted to know more about the donors whereas the majority of the mothers preferred the donor to remain anonymous. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that among DI children in general and among members of the same family, unit opinions differ on the status of the donor. A flexible system offering different types of donors seems to be necessary in order to meet the needs of each family.     

Lesbian mothers who conceived after donor insemination: a follow-up study

This study investigated the development of family relationshipsin lesbian families who conceived after donor insemination (DI).The main characteristics of this unknown family structure wereanalysed. An anonymous donor was used to conceive, the familyunit consisted of two mothers and a father was non-existent,and both women had a homosexual orientation. A total of 50 lesbiancouples who conceived after DI with children aged between 1and 2 years participated in this study, using a standardizedinterview created for this study. After the birth of their child,56% of the lesbian mothers (n = 100) would have wanted the identityof the donor to be registered, while 10% would have done soat the time of the insemination. Opinions differed in 12 ofthe 50 couples: the biological mother was in favour of identityregistration while the social mother was not. Both women consideredthemselves a parent of the child with equally shared responsibilities.Mothers were open about the special features of their familystructure with children and within their immediate social network.Only 30% disclosed their lesbian identity in a broader socialenvironment. The features of these newly created families mayinfluence the psychological development of the children andtherefore make long-term follow-up studies indispensable.     

The European study of assisted reproduction families: the transition to adolescence

BACKGROUND: Findings are presented of the second phase of a European longitudinal study of families created by assisted reproduction. The present investigation reports on data obtained during the child's transition to adolescence. METHODS: A total of 102 IVF families, 94 donor insemination (DI) families, 102 adoptive families, and 102 families with a naturally conceived child were compared on standardized interview and questionnaire measures of parenting and children's psychological well-being. RESULTS: The assisted reproduction families were similar to the adoptive and natural conception families for many of the measures of the quality of parent-child relationships. To the extent that differences were found between the assisted reproduction families and the other family types, these reflected mainly more positive functioning among the assisted reproduction families, with the possible exception of the overinvolvement with their children of a small proportion of assisted reproduction mothers and fathers. The assisted reproduction children were functioning well and did not differ from the adoptive or naturally conceived children on any of the measures of psychological adjustment. However, only 8.6% had been told about their genetic origins. CONCLUSIONS: IVF and DI families with an early adolescent child appear to be functioning well.     

Counselling and selection of homosexual couples in fertility treatment

Artificial insemination with anonymous donor sperm (AID) is a widespread practice for heterosexual couples in which the male partner appears to be infertile. The Centre for Reproductive Medicine of the Brussels University teaching hospital has been one of the first to extend this form of therapy to lesbian couples. In the course of the past 7 years, 27 lesbian couples have come to the centre with a request for AID. The question of whether children can be brought up within such a frame of reference cannot be dissociated from the question of attitudes towards homosexuality as such. Such attitudes still solicit a whole range of controversial reactions. This paper will deal with the most important findings from investigations thus far carried out on the issue of homosexual parenthood. It also sets out the selection criteria used in the evaluation of applicants. A profile of the homosexual couples selected will be presented, with particular attention to their social status, their psychosexual development and their motivation towards parenthood.     

Children: The European study of assisted reproduction families: family functioning and child development

Findings are presented of a European study (conducted in theUK, Italy, Spain and The Netherlands) of family relationshipsand the social and emotional development of children in familiescreated as a result of the two most widely used reproductivetechnologies, in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and donor insemination(DI), in comparison with control groups of families with a naturallyconceived child and adoptive families. Mothers of children conceivedby assisted reproduction expressed greater warmth towards theirchild, were more emotionally involved with their child, interactedmore with their child and reported less stress associated withparenting than mothers who conceived their child naturally.Similarly, assisted reproduction fathers were found to interactmore with their child and to contribute more to parenting thanfathers with a naturally conceived child. With respect to thechildren themselves, no group differences were found for eitherthe presence of psychological disorder or for children's perceptionsof the quality of family relationships. The findings relatingto the quality of parenting and the socio-emotional developmentof the children were similar in each of the four countries studied.     

Lesbian couples requesting donor insemination: an update of the knowledge with regard to lesbian mother families

Although a variety of ways exist of becoming a lesbian mother, an increasing number of lesbian couples have began to visit fertility centres requesting donor insemination (DI). The practice of inseminating lesbian couples remains a controversial issue within the reproductive medicine world. Lesbian mothers offer their children a familial context, which differs on a number of important characteristics from the traditional heterosexual family. In lesbian families, a father has been absent right from the start, and the child is raised by two mothers. The present article reviews whether there is any theoretical and/or empirical evidence for the most common assumptions with regard to lesbian motherhood. It also reports on a number of studies in which the practice of counselling lesbian couples is discussed. Although many important research questions have yet to be addressed, none of the investigations carried out so far could identify an adverse effect of lesbian motherhood on child development. Counselling lesbian couples for DI should aim to provide information about the practical aspects of the treatment. The requests of lesbian couples, however, differ substantially from those of single mothers and heterosexual couples. Counsellors should respect these differences and focus upon the specific living conditions of lesbian families.