Associations between parental disclosure, social disclosure and wellbeing among donor conceived young adults

What are the motivations, experiences and psychological correlates of social disclosure, i.e. telling other people about being donor conceived, among donor conceived young adults?

An online multi-method survey, designed in consultation with the UK's largest community networks for donor conception families and donor conceived people, was completed by 41 donor conceived young adults in the UK between January and August 2022. Participants were recruited through community networks, social media, university mailing lists and snowballing. Participants were mostly female (n = 30 [73.2%]) and conceived by sperm donation (n = 32 [78.0%]). Most participants (n = 31 [75.6%]) had been conceived in a heterosexual two-parent family. The survey comprised standardized measures of wellbeing, stigma concealment, pride and community connectedness (adapted for study population relevance), and open-ended and closed questions about experiences of social disclosure. Data were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively.

All participants had told someone else about being donor conceived, and most had mixed experiences of telling others. Young adults who reported greater stigma concealment experienced lower overall wellbeing. Participants who were told about being donor conceived in middle childhood or adolescence (ages 8-17 years) reported significantly greater stigma concealment and less pride than those told in early childhood or young adulthood. Neither pride nor community connectedness moderated the relationship between stigma concealment and wellbeing.

The study indicates the need for further research on the developmental timing of parental disclosure and minority stress in the context of being donor conceived.