The Disclosure Decision after the Use of Donor Gametes

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this qualitative research is to better understand how parents of children conceived through the use of donor gametes make their decision about whether or not to tell their children of the true biological nature of their conception, i.e., the disclosure decision. Because cultural assumptions and perceptions exert a powerful influence on the meaning of parenthood and family, we are specifically interested in how stigma, gender, and ethical issues influence the process of making a decision about disclosure. The specific aims are: 1) Describe the process that parents undergo in decisions about disclosure of children's donor status by couples who have used either donor insemination of sperm (DI) or donor egg (DO); 2) Determine the respective roles of stigma, gender, and ethical issues in arriving at the disclosure decision; 3) Describe the range and significance of parental concerns and issues as they grapple with the disclosure decision; and 4) Describe how disclosure stances evolve, especially with respect to critical junctures in the child's life. Qualitative data analysis will proceed in an eight-step progression. The 42-month research project is an ethnographic study of parents who have used a donor gamete to conceive a child. It is the first in-depth U.S. study of parental. attitudes towards disclosure of children's donor status by couples who have used either donor insemination of sperm or donor egg technologies. The research will study 120 couples (60 DI and 60 DO), using 3 in-depth interviews of husbands and wives separately and together. We will induct participants into the research whose child is between the ages of 3-10, with emphasis on the sample reflecting a full range of parents of children between those ages at T1.