Emotional adaptation following successful in vitro fertilization

OBJECTIVE: To assess the emotional impact of infertility after successful IVF and to compare parents who have undergone IVF (IVF parents) and parents who have not undergone IVF (non-IVF parents) regarding parental stress and the marital relationship during the transition to parenthood. DESIGN: A study with qualitative and longitudinal quantitative assessments. SETTING: University IVF clinics and antenatal clinics in Stockholm. PATIENT(S): Fifty-five IVF mothers, 53 IVF fathers, 40 non-IVF mothers, and 36 non-IVF fathers. INTERVENTION(S): IVF parents were interviewed. All subjects completed self-rating scales in early pregnancy and at 2 and 6 months postpartum. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Interviews about perception of infertility and scalar measurement of parental stress and the marital relationship. RESULT(S): Negative feelings related to infertility were not easily overcome among the IVF parents. Their levels of stress related to parenthood were similar to those of non-IVF parents, and both groups reported decreased satisfaction with the marital relationship during the transition to parenthood. CONCLUSION(S): The inability to conceive naturally continues to affect the current lives of a proportion of IVF parents. The results suggest that IVF parents may benefit from counseling with regard to the potential long-term impacts of infertility, disclosure issues, and decisions regarding future children. However, levels of parental stress and patterns of partner satisfaction are similar to those of parents with children conceived "naturally."     

Demographic characteristics and needs of the Canadian urban adolescent mother and her child

INTRODUCTION:

There is a paucity of Canadian-based literature on urban adolescent mothers and their children. To inform clinical assessment and interventions and to mitigate the risks that adolescent mothers and their children face, it is essential to understand the characteristics of this high-risk population.

METHODS:

A retrospective review of 116 adolescent mothers attending an urban academic hospital-based outpatient clinic in Canada from 2005 to 2009 was conducted. The following information was collected: demographic characteristics, maternal maltreatment history, substance use, postpartum depression symptoms, and child socioemotional and developmental functioning.

RESULTS:

The mean maternal age was 16.1 years and the mean education level was grade 9. Ninety-nine percent of adolescent mothers were single, 47% had a history of child welfare involvement and 18% had previous involvement with the judicial system. More than one-half of participants reported a history of both maltreatment and substance abuse, and 20% of adolescent mothers scored in the clinical range for postpartum depression. A substantial proportion of children scored in the clinical range for behavioural problems, regulatory difficulties and suspected developmental delays.

CONCLUSION:

The present study serves to illustrate the high-risk nature of urban adolescent mothers. These observations can be used to improve clinical practice for health care providers in community and hospital-based settings working with this population.     

Psychosocial adjustment of couples to first-time parenthood at advanced maternal age: an exploratory longitudinal study

Objective: This study aimed to describe the psychosocial adjustment of primiparous women of advanced age and their partners (AMA group) compared to their younger counterparts (comparison group) from the third trimester of pregnancy to six months postpartum and to explore the psychosocial adjustment of the AMA group, depending on infertility history. Background: First-time parenthood at advanced maternal age (AMA) is a growing reproductive trend; however, few longitudinal studies have explored the psychosocial adjustment of couples from pregnancy to the first postpartum months, considering the distinct trajectories that precede this reproductive behaviour. Methods: Fifty-eight couples in the AMA group (≥35 years at the time of delivery) and 41 couples in the comparison group (20–34 years) were consecutively recruited in a Portuguese urban referral hospital. Both partners responded to the Brief Symptom Inventory-18, the EUROHIS-QoL-8 and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale – Revised during the third trimester of pregnancy (T1), at one month (T2) and six months postpartum (T3). Couples also completed visual analogue scales to assess parenting difficulty, competence and gratification at T2 and T3. Results: The psychosocial adjustment of the AMA group and the comparison group over time was more similar than different. Within the AMA group, perceived parenting difficulty decreased over time for previously infertile couples but remained stable for previously fertile couples. Conclusion: Healthcare providers should avoid stereotypical views and normalise the psychosocial adjustment over the transition to first-time parenthood at AMA. Antenatal psychoeducational interventions should promote realistic expectations about the demands of early parenting, especially among previously infertile couples.     

Constructing families and kinship through donor insemination

This paper presents some central findings of an exploratory qualitative study of New Zealand families with children conceived by donor insemination (DI). Drawing on social anthropological and sociological theorising about kinship and contemporary Western families, the paper explores the ways in which parents and their kin actively construct parent-child relationships and kin connections through the notions of biological and social ties, nature and nurture. The paper discusses three major themes emerging from the data: the social construction of the 'natural facts' of procreation, physical resemblance, and the construction of families through choice, not biology. Whilst the primacy of biological or genetic connection is a powerful cultural theme, particularly evident in the ambiguities and uncertainties for social fathers and their kin, these families also deconstruct this notion. Drawing simultaneously on the power of social and biological connection, using biology as a metaphor for social relations, or by privileging social ties and the formation of families through choice, over time these families strategically establish themselves as the sole parents and kin of their children conceived by DI.     

Factor analysis of the EMBU scale in a large sample of Japanese volunteers.

OBJECTIVE: The EMBU (Egna Minnen av Barndoms Uppfostran; (one's memories of upbringing') is a convenient and reliable instrument for the assessment of parental attitudes. The aim of the present study was to investigate the extent to which the factor structure of the EMBU, obtained in previous investigations, could be retrieved in a large Japanese sample. METHOD: The EMBU scale was administered to 1320 healthy Japanese volunteers. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed. RESULTS: The first factor in the analysis, accounting for 9.9% (father) and 10.6% (mother) of the variance, consisted of rejection items. The second factor, accounting for 9.1% (father) and 8.6% (mother) of the variance, contained items relating to emotional warmth. The third factor appeared to represent overprotection, and accounted for 7.8% (father) and 7.8% (mother) of the variance. The fourth factor, which accounted for 3.7% (father) and 3.7% (mother) of the variance, included items classified under favouring subjects. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that this four-factor structure fitted our data very well for both the father and the mother. The results of factor analysis for four subscales showed three major factors for the EMBU. CONCLUSION: The results of this study confirmed that the EMBU yielded a factor structure in Japan similar to that found in European countries. The EMBU is useful for comparison of parenting attitudes in different societies or countries.     

The transition to parenthood: what does it mean for fathers?

Title. The transition to parenthood: what does it mean for fathers? Aim. This paper is a report of a study to explore the needs of first‐time fathers in relation to the care, support and education provided by healthcare professionals during the antenatal period, particularly in relation to preparing them for the transition to fatherhood. Background. Pregnancy and transition to parenthood are major developmental periods within families throughout the world. Previous research suggests that fathers in many different countries feel unprepared for parenthood. Methods. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 20 partners of primiparous women from two healthcare provider organizations in South‐West England between December 2005 and July 2006. Recruitment took place at about 28 weeks gestation. Semi‐structured interviews were undertaken at home in the last trimester of pregnancy and 3–4 months postpartum. Content analysis of the interview data was undertaken. Findings. Several common themes emerged from both the ante‐ and postnatal data, including lack of support mechanisms, involvement in antenatal provision and the need for more information given in the antenatal period on parenting, baby care and relationships. Conclusions. Adequately preparing new fathers for parenthood in advance of the birth of their baby is important, and healthcare professionals can contribute to this by involving and supporting new fathers. Further study is needed to explore the role of fathers in antenatal education and the types of interventions that are effective in improving their early experiences of parenthood. The study needs to be repeated with fathers from black and ethnic minority groups.