title: Do children make you happier? Sustained child-wish and mental health in women 11-17 years after fertility treatment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Are fertility treatment-related factors, parenthood status and sustained child-wish associated with women's long-term mental health?
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Sustaining a child-wish is more strongly associated with women's long-term mental health than fertility treatment-related factors and parenthood status.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  About one-third of the couples starting fertility treatment do not achieve parenthood and have to adjust to an unfulfilled child-wish. In women, remaining childless after treatment is associated with less favourable mental health. It is unclear if this is only related to their childlessness or if adjustment after unsuccessful treatment is affected by other variables. These include diagnostic and treatment-related factors (cause of fertility problems, age at first consultation, type and number of treatments) and the psychological ability to come to terms with the unfulfilled child-wish. Differentiating the relative contribution of these factors to women's long-term mental health will provide useful knowledge to support patients adjusting to negative treatment outcomes.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study with a nationally representative sample of 7148 women who started fertility treatment at any of the 12 IVF hospitals in the Netherlands from 1995 through 2000. Of 16 482 women who were invited to participate, 7148 (43.4%) provided psychological data.
  
  
  METHODS
  The average age of women was 47 years and the average age at first fertility consultation was 30 years. Fifty-one per cent of women did IUI and 85% did IVF/ICSI. Ninety per cent of women were married/cohabiting, 20.9% remained childless and 5.9% had a child-wish. Women completed a questionnaire assessing diagnostic and treatment factors (retrospective data), parenthood status, sustained child-wish and mental health.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A multiple regression analysis controlling for background variables showed that, first, male factor (P < 0.05) and/or idiopathic infertility (P < 0.001) were associated with better mental health. Secondly, starting fertility treatment at an older age was associated with better mental health (P < 0.01). Thirdly, the interaction between parenthood status and sustained child-wish was significant (P < 0.01). Having a child-wish was associated with worse mental health for women with (β = -0.058, P < 0.01) and without children (β =-0.136, P < 0.001), but associations were stronger for the latter. Predictive factors accounted for <5% of the variation in mental health status in the study population.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The sample was large and nationally representative. Response rate was in line with other studies but women without psychological data were less likely to have biological children and 15.9% of non-responders considered the questionnaire to be too confronting or to elicit too emotional memories. This could reflect an underestimation of the proportion of women with a sustained child-wish.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Sustaining a child-wish is a more important risk for long-term adjustment problems than parenthood status. Women adjust better when they start treatment at older ages and know they were not responsible for the cause of the fertility problem. Fertility staff can play an important role in preparing patients for the possibility of treatment failure and the associated grief process. They can also inform patients about the positive effect of refocusing their life goals.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  This study was supported by a grant from the Dutch Cancer Society (2006-3631). No competing interests exist.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  N/A.
authors.affiliation: Cardiff Fertility Studies Research Group, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Tower Building, Park Place, Cardiff, Wales CF10 3AT, UK gameiros@cardiff.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Sofia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gameiro
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Plesmanlaan 121, Amsterdam CX 1066, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Alexandra W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: van den Belt-Dusebout
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Plesmanlaan 121, Amsterdam CX 1066, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Eveline
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bleiker
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, PO-Box 9101, Nijmegen HB 6500, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Didi
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Braat
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Plesmanlaan 121, Amsterdam CX 1066, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Flora E
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: van Leeuwen
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Psychology, Radboud University Nijmegen, Medical Centre, PO Box 9101, Nijmegen HB 6500, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Christianne M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Verhaak
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007246:Infertility / Q000523:psychology; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D012044:Regression Analysis; D027724:Reproductive Techniques, Assisted / Q000523:psychology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: child-wish; fertility treatment; mental health; parenthood status