Families Created by Identifiable Egg Donation: Family Functioning in Early Childhood
Egg donation is an increasingly common form of fertility treatment offered to women who are unable to conceive using their own eggs. Identity-release egg donation is the primary treatment method available to prospective parents seeking treatment with donated eggs in the UK. In families formed through identity-release egg donation, mother and child lack a genetic link. The child is also legally entitled to access the donor’s identity when they reach adulthood. Despite identity-release egg donation being available in the UK since 2005, no studies have yet examined family functioning in families formed this way when children are in early childhood. The aim of this thesis was first, to examine the effect of the absence of a genetic link between mother and child and, second, to examine mothers’ perspectives on identity-release donation and the possibility of future donor-child contact. Data were obtained from a sample of 72 families who had conceived using in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and egg donation and a comparison group of 50 families who had conceived through IVF using their own gametes. Eighty-nine percent of the families were heterosexual, two-parent families and the average age of the children (45% female) at the time of data collection was 5.6 years. Standardised interview, questionnaire and observational measures were used to collect data from mothers, father and children about parents’ psychological wellbeing, the quality of the parent-child relationship and children’s adjustment. Data regarding mothers’ thoughts and feelings about identity-release egg donation and future donor-child contact were obtained via semi-structured interview. Egg donation families were found to be functioning well in terms of parents’ psychological health, the quality of the parent-child relationship and child adjustment, with few differences found between family types. However, egg donation mothers were found to report more parenting stress and less social support than IVF mothers, and egg donation fathers were found to have poorer psychological health compared to IVF fathers. Differences in fathers’ psychological health were generally associated with egg donation fathers’ older age or being a parent of twins rather than family type per se. Egg donation mothers and fathers were found to express more negative representations of the parent- child relationship than IVF parents; however, no group differences were found between observed parent-child interaction quality, with parents and children in both groups demonstrating good relationship functioning at the behavioural level. Egg donation children were found to be rated as higher in externalising problems by their parents than IVF children. Most of the variance in children’s externalising scores was explained by family process variables and was not explained by family type. Egg donation mothers were found to express considerable ambivalence about their use of identity-release egg donation. Thematic analysis of egg donation mothers’ interviews revealed a broad range of perspectives, from viewing the prospect of future donor-child contact as threatening to the security of their position as the child’s mother, to viewing identity-release an opportunity to be embraced for the benefit of the child. Mothers’ narratives revealed complex and often contradictory perspectives, and demonstrated mothers’ use of multiple strategies in order to make sense of and manage their feelings about identity-release egg donation.
egg donation, identity-release, parents' perspectives, disclosure, policy, family functioning, psychological wellbeing
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