Parent-child relationships and the psychological well-being of 18-year-old adolescents conceived by in vitro fertilisation.
This article presents the findings of the first study to have followed up children conceived by in vitro fertilisation (IVF) to late adolescence. As close as possible to their eighteenth birthday, standardised interviews and questionnaires were administered to 26 adolescents conceived by IVF and comparison groups of 27 adolescents adopted in infancy and 56 adolescents conceived naturally by previously infertile parents. IVF adolescents were found to have good relationships with their parents that did not differ from those of adopted and natural conception adolescents. At age 18, no young person was distressed about having been conceived by IVF. The findings of this study indicate that as test-tube babies approach adulthood, they are generally functioning well.
Centre for Family Research, Faculty of Social & Political Sciences, University of Cambridge, Free School Lane, Cambridge, CB2 3RF, UK. seg42@cam.ac.uk
Susan
S
Golombok
Lucy
L
Owen
Lucy
L
Blake
Clare
C
Murray
Vasanti
V
Jadva
D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012649:Self Concept; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires