Going it alone: solo mothers and their infants conceived by donor insemination

Abstract

Findings are presented from a study of solo-mother families with an infant conceived by donor insemination (DI). Twenty-seven solo-mother DI families were compared with 50 married DI families on standardized interview and questionnaire measures of mothers' psychological well-being and the quality of parent-child relationships. Solo DI mothers showed lower levels of mother-child interaction and lower levels of sensitivity toward their infant than married DI mothers. Solo DI mothers appeared to be more open toward disclosing the donor conception to the child than were married DI mothers.