A comparison of single and married recipients of donor insemination.

There has been some controversy surrounding the use of donor insemination (DI) for single women. The purpose of the present study was to compare psychological characteristics of married versus single women who were DI recipients. A total of 17 single women and 17 married women completed psychological questionnaires regarding psychiatric symptomatology, self-esteem, and their attitudes towards DI prior to treatment. There were no significant differences between the groups in psychiatric symptomatology or level of self-esteem. A significant difference was found in the amount of time taken to decide to use DI with single women waiting longer. There were no significant differences between groups in reported concerns about the child. There were significant differences in attitudes towards disclosure with more single than married women reporting that they would tell the child about using DI to conceive.