Adolescents' Integration of Donor Conception into their Identity

Abstract: Donor conception (DC) is an artificial reproductive technique that refers to the use of donated gametes. Adolescence is an important period for identity formation and being donor conceived might be an important part of people’s identity, yet few studies have investigated donor conceived adolescents’ experiences. The research questions were: 1) How do adolescents integrate their donor conception into their identity? 2) Does the level of integration differ between adolescents with early and late disclosure and is there a difference when controlling for family type, current age and gender? 3) Does the level of integration differ between adolescents in families with heterosexual and lesbian parents and is there a difference when controlling for age at disclosure, current age and gender? The study had a cross-sectional design and included 86 donor conceived adolescents between 13-16 years old. They were children of heterosexual or lesbian couples that took part in the longitudinal Swedish Study on Gamete Donation. Data was collected through a questionnaire survey. The integration of DC into identity was measured with the Donor Conception Identity Questionnaire. Wilcoxon Signed Rank test and Mann-Whitney U tests were conducted to answer the research questions. Adolescents showed low curiosity and avoidance regardless of family type, indicating that the DC was not seen as a crucial part of their identity, nor something that bothered them. Adolescents with late disclosure showed more avoidance than those with early disclosure, supporting the idea that early disclosure is beneficial for the integration of DC into identity.