Embryo Donation
Concerns have been raised regarding the effect of conception through embryo donation on family functioning and child development. Attachment theory claims that the crucial factor influencing a child's social and emotional development, and specifically the child's attachment to the parents, is the parent-child relationship in the early years (Bowlby, 1988). The nature of this attachment is related to the quality of parenting provided, particularly aspects such as parental warmth and sensitivity (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978). It is possible that the absence of a genetic link to the child can influence parents' feelings about the child and, consequently, the quality of parenting. From an evolutionary psychology perspective, it is argued that one of the paramount reasons why parents invest so much time and effort in their children is to ensure the continuance of their own genes. Thus, nongenetic parents may be less invested in their children and may behave less positively toward them, with subsequent negative consequences for parent-child relationships. (Bowlby, 1988)
Research on other types of assisted reproduction using donor gametes is relevant here. In the case of donor insemination, the child is genetically related to the mother but not to the father who raises the child, whereas with egg donation the reverse is true. In particular, fathers have been predicted to be more distant toward a nongenetic child. However, there is no evidence to suggest that either quality of parenting or children's psychological development is negatively affected by the absence of a genetic link between one parent and the child (Golombok, Lycett, et al., 2004). Donor insemination fathers have been found to be as warm toward their child as are natural conception fathers. Similarly, egg donation mothers are able to form close relationships with their child (Ainsworth, 1978)
However, in embryo donation both parents lack a genetic relationship to the child, and these families more closely resemble those with an adopted child. Adoption research indicates that when adopted children are placed with a family at or close to birth, the situation most analogous to embryo donation, parent-child relationships are generally positive. There is no difference in the security of mother-infant attachment between families with an early adopted child and nonadoptive families and adoptive parents show high levels of warmth and affection toward their child. (Bjorklund, 2002)
Adoptive parents generally start to disclose to the child the circumstances of the child's birth from a young age (Brodzinsky & Pinderhughes, 2002). In contrast, the majority of donor insemination and egg donation parents do not tell their child about the nature of his or her conception. There has been much concern about secrecy in donor conception, chiefly that nondisclosure will damage family relationships. The fact that embryo donation parents have a biological link to the child through gestation allows them to keep the nongenetic relationship from others and from the child, if they so desire. In addition, embryo donors have, until recently in the United Kingdom, been anonymous. Although new legislation came into force in April 2005 that allows donor offspring access to the identity of the donors, this law does not apply retrospectively. A lack of available information on donors has been previously cited as a reason for nondisclosure by donor conception parents Therefore, embryo donation parents may follow the pattern of other gamete donation parents in keeping the child's origins relatively private. (Golombok, 2002)
The presence of the gestational relationship in embryo donation may also affect the quality of parenting. Over the past 20 years, there has been increasing recognition that attachment between mother and infant begins before birth, with the mother forming a relationship to the fetus. This prenatal attachment is important because it has been shown to be modestly but significantly associated with the postnatal attachment styles of infants (Muller, 1996). Thus, the experience of pregnancy could facilitate positive parenting in embryo donation families.
It has been suggested that conceiving a child through any form of assisted reproduction may affect parenting. Arguments include the notion that the emotional stress of infertility and its treatment could lead to dysfunctional parenting patterns and that parents who have extreme difficulty conceiving may view their child as very precious or special, leading to the development of overinvolved parenting attitudes. Emotional overinvolvement can be seen as a negative parenting trait because it may produce children who do not develop age-appropriate autonomy and who have elevated levels of anxiety Studies of families with genetically related children conceived by IVF have found generally good parent-child relationships (Golombok et al., 2002; van Balen, 1998). However, a tendency of some IVF parents toward overprotective and overinvolved parenting has been observed. Embryo donation parents may show similarly raised levels of overinvolvement because they too undergo the experience of infertility and assisted reproduction. (Golombok , 2004)
A further possible consequence of assisted reproduction was seen in a study of IVF parents that assessed the levels of defensive responding, that is, the extent to which parents were reluctant to report negative feelings about parenting For IVF mothers, the level of defensive responding was related to the number of failed IVF treatment cycles, with higher levels of treatment predicting greater defensive responding. The trait of defensive responding may have negative consequences for children if it is indicative of a noncommunicative family environment. Because embryo donation parents have often been through failed IVF treatments, they may show similarly high levels of defensive responding. (Golombok, 1999)
The implication from previous research is that there is little basis for expecting severe dysfunctions in embryo donation families. However, there is little or no actual information available on parenting and child development in this new family form. Our aim in this investigation was to examine the experience of a sample of families with children conceived through embryo donation. These families were compared with a group of families with a child adopted in infancy, allowing an exploration of whether the gestational link results in more positive parenting in the embryo donation families. A second comparison group of families with a child conceived through IVF using the parents' own gametes was included to investigate whether there was an effect of the lack of genetic relationships in the embryo donation families. IVF families were studied in preference to natural conception families to control for the use of assisted-reproductive technology and the accompanying emotional stress. Patterns of disclosure to the child regarding their genetic origins were also assessed to examine whether embryo donation parents tend toward secrecy or openness. (Golombok , 2004)
However, it should be noted that that embryo donation fathers showed more overinvolvement than did IVF fathers. One possible explanation is that the increased extent of fertility treatment the embryo donation couples have experienced renders embryo donation fathers particularly vulnerable to developing overprotective or overanxious parenting, once the much longed-for child arrives. Different processes may be at work in the formation of overinvolved parenting styles for fathers and mothers. In relation to overinvolvement, it is important to note that previous research on assisted-reproduction children has not found any evidence that parental overprotectiveness is related to increased risk of child adjustment problems. Furthermore, the mean ratings for embryo donation parents in the current study represented moderate overinvolvement rather than pathological levels. This difference is illustrated by the fact that an enmeshed parent might refuse to be separated from the child at all, not let anyone else look after the child for even short periods, and not allow the child to play with other children. A moderately overinvolved parent, on the other hand, will go out without the child, albeit rarely, and will leave the child, but only with immediate family. Therefore, it appears that, having had such difficulty conceiving, the embryo donation parents simply wanted to spend as much time with their children as possible. (Golombok , 2004)
Embryo donation mothers were more likely to respond defensively when asked questions about their child and family life than were adoptive or IVF mothers. Embryo donation fathers showed similarly increased levels of defensive responding compared to adoptive fathers, although not to IVF fathers. Again, this could be related to the extent of treatment in accordance with the finding of McMahon et al. that defensive responding in IVF mothers was associated with levels of treatment experienced. From this perspective, high levels of defensive responding in embryo donation parents may represent unwillingness to admit to problems or a feeling that they have no right to feel frustrated with the child after such a struggle to conceive. Alternatively, it may be that greater defensive responding is a result of the social stigma still felt to be attached to embryo donation. Whereas adoption and IVF are seen as common routes to parenthood nowadays, donor conception is still relatively unusual. In addition, it is possible that parents who opt for embryo donation are generally more private and more reluctant to discuss personal matters. (Golombok, 2004)
In line with this greater defensiveness, embryo donation parents were less inclined toward disclosing information about the method of family creation to their child, with only 33% of embryo donation parents having told or planning to tell their child. This contrasts sharply with the other family types, in which all of the adoptive parents and over 90% of the IVF parents had already disclosed this information or intended to do so in the future. Embryo donation parents followed the pattern seen in earlier studies of gamete donation families (Golombok, Murray, Brinsden, & Abdalla, 1999). However, a recent study examining donor conception parents of infants conceived between 1999 and 2001 found some evidence of a change in attitudes, with 46% of donor insemination parents and 56% of egg donation parents reporting that they planned to disclose to their child (Golombok, Lycett, et al., 2004). It appears that embryo donation parents, who both lack a genetic link to the child, may be even more private about this issue than other types of donor conception families. (Golombok, 2004)
Bibliography
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Golombok, S., Lycett, E., MacCallum, F., Jadva, V., Murray, C., Abdalla, H., et al. (2004). Parenting children conceived by gamete donation. Journal of Family Psychology, 18, 443-452.
Golombok, S., Murray, C., Brinsden, P., & Abdalla, H. (1999). Social versus biological parenting: Family functioning and the socioemotional development of children conceived by egg or sperm donation. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 40, 519-527.
Golombok, S., Murray, C., Jadva, V., MacCallum, F., & Lycett, E. (2004). Families created through a surrogacy arrangement: Parent-child relationships in the first year of life. Developmental Psychology, 40, 400-411.
