title: Twins conceived using IVF: a follow-up of the family environment and psychosocial adjustment in adolescence.
abstract: Compared to families with IVF singletons, what are parental depressive, parent-adolescent interaction and adolescent adjustment outcomes in families with 11-17-year-old IVF twins?
  
  
  
  No differences were detected for any measured outcome between families with 11-17-year-old IVF twins and those with IVF singletons, despite high statistical power.
  
  
  
  When IVF twins are younger than 5-years-old, parents tend to have more mental health difficulties and poorer parent-child interactions relative to IVF singletons. By middle childhood, these differences may no longer exist and available studies with middle childhood-aged IVF twins challenge the expected long-term implications of the early concerns. IVF twins may even have more optimum adjustment than IVF singletons in middle childhood.
  
  
  
  Study of 280, 11-17-year-old IVF children (n = 122 twins and n = 158 singletons) from 195 families at a US reproductive endocrinology clinic.
  
  
  
  At Wave 1, clinic patients with an IVF child born between 1998 and 2004 were invited to participate in an online survey. In this follow-up study, mothers and fathers provided information on each of their 11-17-year-old IVF adolescents.
  
  
  
  There were no differences between 11- and 17-year-old IVF twins and IVF singletons in parent depressive symptoms, parent-adolescent interactions or adolescent adjustment outcomes.
  
  
  
  Although the family demographics are representative of IVF patients, participants were drawn from one US clinic.
  
  
  
  Study results provide reassurance that by adolescence IVF twins and their families function as well as IVF singletons and their families.
  
  
  
  University of Minnesota (UMN) Agriculture Experiment Station (MN-52-107), UMN Grant-in-Aid of Research, Artistry and Scholarship, UMN College of Education and Human Development Research Development Investment Grant, UMN Women's Philosophic Leadership Circle Award, UMN Eva Miller Endowed Fellowship. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Social Science, University of Minnesota, 290 McNeal Hall, 1985 Buford Avenue, St Paul, MN 55108, USA and02584@umn.edu.
authors.forename: K N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Minnesota, 1300 2nd Street, Suite 180, Minneapolis, MN 55454, USA.
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Connor
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Studies, University of Minnesota, 225 Ford Hall, 224 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
authors.forename: A F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Koerner
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Social Science, University of Minnesota, 290 McNeal Hall, 1985 Buford Avenue, St Paul, MN 55108, USA.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Rueter
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005195:Family Relations / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro / Q000523:psychology*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012931:Social Environment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014427:Twins / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: IVF; depressive symptoms; family relationships; psychosocial adjustment; twins