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New Reproductive Technology and the Family: The Parent‐Child Relationship Following in vitro Fertilization
Author(s) -
Colpin Hilde,
Demyttenaere Koen,
Vandemeulebroecke Lieve
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
journal of child psychology and psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.652
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1469-7610
pISSN - 0021-9630
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1995.tb01673.x
Subject(s) - psychosocial , psychology , developmental psychology , autonomy , in vitro fertilisation , multivariate analysis , clinical psychology , medicine , psychiatry , pregnancy , biology , political science , law , genetics
Parent‐child relationships and the parents' psychosocial functioning were assessed in families with a 24–30–month‐old, single born child conceived by homologous in vitro fertilization (IVF) and in a control group of families with a naturally conceived child. The investigation included behavioural observations of mother‐child interactions in the home, and self‐rated questionnaires. No significant multivariate group effects were found for indicators of the parent‐child relationship, nor for the parents' psychosocial functioning. However, in the case of IVF the employment status of the mother was associated with her behaviour towards her child: employed IVF‐mothers showed less respect for their child's autonomy compared with both nonemployed IVF‐mothers and employed control mothers.