Surrogate mothers do not appear to experience psychological problems as a result of the surrogacy arrangement.

In recent years, concerns have been raised regarding the potentially negative consequences of gamete donation for parent-child relationships. Findings are presented of a study of families with an infant conceived by gamete donation. Fifty donor insemination families and 51 egg donation families were compared with 80 natural conception families on standardized interview and questionnaire measures of the psychological well-being of the parents, the quality of parent-child relationships, and infant temperament. The differences that were identified indicated more positive parent-child relationships among the gamete donation than the natural conception parents, accompanied by greater emotional involvement with the child. Comparisons were also carried out between the donor insemination and the egg donation parents on their experiences of gamete donation. In contrast to the findings of earlier investigations, the donor insemination and egg donation parents appeared to be more open toward disclosing the donor conception to the child. It was concluded that infants conceived by egg or sperm donation did not appear to be at risk for parenting difficulties.

BACKGROUND: A major concern in relation to donor insemination (DI) is whether children should be told about their genetic origins. This study compared the thoughts, feelings and experiences of DI parents who were inclined towards openness with those who were inclined towards non-disclosure. METHODS: Forty-six families with a 4-to 8-year-old DI-conceived child were interviewed about their decision, their reasons and subsequent concerns regarding disclosure. RESULTS: Thirty-nine percent of parents were inclined towards disclosure whilst the remaining 61% were not. The two main reasons for favouring disclosure were to avoid accidental discovery and a desire for openness. Non-disclosing parents felt that there was no reason to tell and wished to protect family members. The children who had been told reacted with either curiosity or disinterest. CONCLUSIONS: In spite of donor anonymity, parents who were intending to tell their child in the future had optimistic expectations of their child's reaction. Parents who had already told their child generally described the telling experience as a positive one.

It appears that the absence of a genetic and/or gestational link between parents and their child does not have a negative impact on parent-child relationships or the psychological well-being of mothers, fathers or children at age 3.

The findings from this recent cohort add further weight to the growing body of research showing that the absence of a genetic link between a parent and a child does not necessarily jeopardize the development of a positive relationship between them.