Single fathers by choice: why do they decide to have a child through surrogacy as a sole parents?

Single fathers by choice are a demographically small, but growing, family configuration formed by men, both heterosexual and gay, who actively choose to parent alone through adoption or surrogacy. To our knowledge, no research has been conducted so far on the motivations of single fathers who have used surrogacy. In-depth semi-structured interviews were carried out with 33 Italian single fathers (Mage = 47.33 years, SD = 4.63), most of whom self-identified as gay (n = 24). Participants were recruited from an association of gay parents, Facebook groups of single parents, and snowballing. Each interview lasted approximately 90 minutes and was audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using qualitative thematic analysis. The consistency of the coding process were guaranteed through auditing by other two team researchers, who independently read the coding scheme and the transcripts giving their suggestions and criticisms. Findings indicated that the fathers’ reasons for single parenthood by surrogacy can be understood in relation to the four themes of right timing (n = 33), encouragement to proceed (n = 26), desire to reproduce (n = 19), and fear of separation or divorce (n = 5), with the first theme further comprising four subthemes related to career and financial stability (n = 28), a feeling of having “worked through” concerns about single parenthood (n = 30), a fear of getting older (n = 23), and the bother of waiting for the “right” relationship (n = 25). Multiple themes emerged in each interview. The small sample size and participant characteristics of older age, an Italian nationality, a mainly gay sexual orientation, and high income may limit the generalizability of the findings. This study adds knowledge on the reproductive experience of single men and warns practitioners and policy- makers in the field against making assumptions about people who may have access to fertility treatments on the basis of their marital status, gender, or sexual orientation.