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Hum. Reprod. Advance Access published online on August 27, 2008
Human Reproduction, doi:10.1093/humrep/den297
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Adolescents conceived by IVF: parenting and psychosocial adjustment

H. Colpin1 and G. Bossaert

Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Centre for School Psychology, University of Leuven (K.U.Leuven), Tiensestraat 102, PO Box 3717, 3000 Leuven, Belgium

1 Correspondence address. E-mail: hilde.colpin{at}psy.kuleuven.be

BACKGROUND: A follow-up study was conducted in mid-adolescence on parenting and the child's psychosocial development after in vitro fertilization (IVF). The first phase of the study had compared 31 IVF families and 31 families with a naturally conceived child when the children were 2 years old (Colpin et al., 1995). Of these, 24 IVF families and 21 control families participated again when the children were 15–16 years old.

METHODS: Fathers, mothers and adolescents completed questionnaires assessing parenting style and stress, and adolescent psychosocial adjustment.

RESULTS: No significant differences were found in self- or adolescent-reported parenting style, or in parenting stress between IVF mothers and mothers in the control group, nor between IVF fathers and fathers in the control group. Neither did we find significant differences in self- or parent-reported behavioural problems between adolescents conceived by IVF and those conceived naturally. Comparison of behavioural problems between IVF adolescents informed or not informed about the IVF conception did not reveal significant differences.

CONCLUSIONS: Parenting and 15–16-year-old adolescents' psychosocial adjustment did not differ significantly between IVF families and control families. This study is, to the best of our knowledge, the first psychosocial follow-up in mid-adolescence, and adds to the evidence that IVF children and their parents are well-adjusted. Large-scale studies in adolescence are needed to support these findings.

Key words: infertility/IVF/parent child relations/psychosocial/adolescents

Submitted on February 1, 2008; resubmitted on July 3, 2008; accepted on July 9, 2008.


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