Family Secrets and Family Functioning: The Case of Donor Assistance

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between adult offspring's perception of family functioning and of parental use of topic avoidance to maintain secrecy regarding the use of donor assistance to conceive. A cross-sectional design was used to study a convenience sample of 69 young adult donor offspring who completed a demographic questionnaire, a topic avoidance scale relative to each of their rearing parents, and the Beavers Self Report Family Instrument. Findings indicated that participants perceived both parents as avoiding the topic of donor assistance more than other topics, mothers as avoiding all topics less than fathers, and topic avoidance was negatively associated with family functioning. Mothers' general topic avoidance was the strongest predictor of family functioning. Parents' disclosing together was predictive of higher family functioning. Implications for practice and future research are suggested.