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Published on: September 19, 2019
Integrating donor conception into identity development: adolescents in fatherless families
Jenna Slutsky1, Vasanti Jadva2, Tabitha Freeman2
1Center for Attachment Research, New School for Social Research, The New School, New York, New York.
Objective:
To study the processes by which donor-conceived children incorporate donor conception into their subjective sense of identity.
Design:
Cross-sectional.
Setting:
Family homes.
Patient(S):
Nineteen donor-conceived adolescents.
Intervention(S):
Administration of an interview and questionnaire.
Main Outcome Measure(S):
The mother-child relationship was assessed through the Friends and Family Interview, a semistructured interview designed to assess adolescents' security of attachment in terms of secure-autonomous, insecure-dismissive, insecure-preoccupied, and insecure-disorganized attachment patterns. The Donor Conception Identity Questionnaire assessed adolescents' thoughts and feelings about donor conception, yielding two factors: [1] curiosity about donor conception and [2] avoidance of donor conception.
Result(S):
Statistically significant associations were found between the Curiosity scale and the secure-autonomous and insecure-dismissing attachment ratings. Adolescents with secure-autonomous attachment patterns were more interested in exploring donor conception whereas those with insecure-dismissing patterns were less likely to express curiosity. Insecure-disorganized attachment ratings were statistically significantly correlated with the Avoidance scale, indicating higher levels of negative feelings about donor conception.
Conclusion(S):
The results of this study of the influence of parent-child relationships on thoughts and feelings about donor conception in adolescence suggest that the valence of the parent-child relationship influences adolescents' appraisal of their donor conception within the context of their growing sense of identity.
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