Choosing genes without jeans: do evolutionary psychological mechanisms have an impact on thinking distortions in sperm donor preferences among heterosexual sperm recipients?

Abstract

The objective of the project was to compare the importance of traits desired in a life partner to traits desired in a sperm donor. A survey was distributed via internet support groups to women undergoing donor insemination and the questionnaire consisted of 35 traits of a desired life partner and of a desired sperm donor. The respondents comprised 278 unmarried childless heterosexual women over 38 years old undergoing donor insemination treatments. The 35 traits of a desired life partner and a desired sperm donor were grouped by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) into four factors: (i) personality; (ii) physical appearance; (iii) genes and health; and (iv) socio-economic status. Paired-sample t-tests showed that patients attached significantly greater importance to social status, personality, and physical appearance in a desired life partner than to those traits in a desired sperm donor. No differences were found regarding the genetic quality of the desired life partner versus the sperm donor. These findings contribute to the understanding of fertility patients’ preferences in sperm donors.

Keywords:

• Donor insemination
• genes
• mate selection
• parental investment theory
• single women
• sperm donor

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to express their sincere gratitude to the editor of Human Fertility and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.