Attachment to parent among donor conceived teenagers

Sammanfattning: Donor conceived (DC) teenagers are of interest as they are brought up in families where they have a genetic bond to one parent and lack a genetic bond to the other. The aim of this study was to investigate the attachment of DC teenagers to their genetic and non-genetic parent and whether the genetic link affects the attachment. We have analyzed whether the type of family form and/or donation type have an effect on the level of attachment on these teenagers. 86 teenagers participated through answering a survey which included the Inventory och Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA), which was used to measure the attachment of donor conceived teenagers to both their parents. Wilcoxon signed rank test, Kruskal-Wallis H-test, Chi2 test and spearman correlation test were used to analyze the IPPA answers of the DC teenagers. The results showed that a secure attachment was common among the observed DC teenagers, that the attachment to genetic and non-genetic parent did not differ and that the type of donation and family form in which the teenagers were brought up did not seem to influence the attachment of DC teenagers. Consequently, our study indicates that other factors than a genetic link to their parent affect the security of attachment among DC teenagers. Clinical implications include that being conceived through donation should not be considered as a risk factor considering the attachment security to one's parents. Limitations of this study that should be considered are sample bias, the possibility that only high functioning families consented to their children’s participation in the study.