Psychological well-being and family functioning following identity-release gamete donation or standard IVF: follow-up of parents with adolescent children.

Publisher: Taylor & Francis Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 100888143 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1742-8149 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 14647273 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Hum Fertil (Camb) Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: Philadelphia, PA : Taylor & Francis
Original Publication: Cambridge, UK : Journals of Reproduction and Fertility Ltd., c1998-

Fertilization in Vitro*/psychology ; Parent-Child Relations* ; Oocyte Donation*/psychology; Humans ; Female ; Male ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Parents/psychology ; Anxiety ; Sweden ; Depression/psychology ; Follow-Up Studies ; Longitudinal Studies ; Prospective Studies ; Psychological Well-Being

This study sought to investigate if heterosexual-couple parents with adolescent children following identity-release oocyte donation (OD), sperm donation (SD) or standard IVF differed with regard to psychological distress, family functioning, and parent-child relationships. The prospective longitudinal Swedish Study on Gamete Donation consists of couples recruited when starting treatment between 2005 and 2008 from seven Swedish university hospitals providing gamete donation. This study concerns the fifth wave of data collection and included a total of 205 mothers and fathers with adolescent children following OD ( n  = 73), SD ( n  = 67), or IVF with own gametes ( n  = 65). OD/SD parents had used identity-release donation and most had disclosed the donor conception to their child. Parents answered validated instruments measuring symptoms of anxiety and depression (HADS), family functioning (GF6+) and parent-child relationship. Results found that parents following OD or SD did not differ significantly from IVF-parents with regard to symptoms of anxiety and depression, family functioning, and perceived closeness and conflicts with their child. Irrespective of treatment group, most parents were within normal range on psychological distress and family functioning and reported positive parent-child relationships. However, SD mothers to a larger extent reported anxiety symptoms above cut-off compared to OD mothers (31% vs. 7.3%, p  = 0.018). In conclusion, the present results add to previous research by including families with adolescent children following identity-release oocyte and sperm donation, most of whom were aware of their donor conception. Largely, our results confirm that the use of gamete donation does not interfere negatively with mothers' and fathers' psychological well-being and perceived family functioning.

Keywords: Donor conception; family functioning; identity-release; parent-child relations; psychological distress

Date Created: 20240711 Date Completed: 20240711 Latest Revision: 20240711

20250114

10.1080/14647273.2024.2375098

38988202