Mothers of IVF Twins: The Mediating Role of Employment and Social Coping Resources in Maternal Stress

Abstract

Twin pregnancies and births resulting from assisted reproductive technologies have been associated with adverse perinatal outcomes and maternal health complications leading to psychologically complex parenting. In the current study the authors assess the prevalence of clinical levels of maternal stress among mothers of twins resulting from in vitro fertilization and examine the association of social coping resources with three maternal stress sub-scales. During the years 2003-2005, 88 primiparous Israeli mothers of in vitro fertilization-conceived twins provided socio-demographic data during their third trimester of pregnancy, and at 6 months after birth provided data on delivery and medical condition of infants, coping resources (social support and marital quality), and a maternal stress scale. Forty-one percent of the mothers reached a clinically significant level of maternal stress. Social support and maternal employment were the most significant variables associated with experience of the stress in the early stages of adaptation to mothering in vitro fertilization twins. Primiparous mothers of in vitro fertilization twins are vulnerable to maternal stress in early stages of adaptation to the maternal role, some of whom reach clinical levels that may require professional interventions. Unemployed mothers with low social support were the most susceptible to the deleterious effects of in vitro fertilization treatment.

Families with twins - a systematic review

“…Baor, Soskolne (2012) Israel. 40 Objective: to assess levels of maternal stress after the birth of twins considering social resources. Participants: mothers of twins conceived via IVF (n=88).…”

“…23,26,37,[40][41] They also covered marital adaptation, 29,32-33 parental adjustment 25,32 and behavior 25 and development of children, 28,30 seeking to identify the determining factors of this process 23,[27][28][29][30][33][34][37][38]40 and using twinning parenthood as a reference.…”

“…Support Functions Scale; 29,33,38 Abbreviated Duke Social Support Index; 34 Scale of Perceived Social Support; 37,40 Maternal Support Scale. 41 Based on the abovementioned results, we decided to carry out synthesis and analysis of the data that, in our view, contributed the most to the understanding of the matter, as well as the nature of the supporting studies.…”

Do assisted-reproduction twin pregnancies require additional antenatal care?

“…In IVF pregnancies, anxiety scores, but not depression scores, are higher in women with twin gestations (Jahangiri et al, 2011). In particular, primiparous mothers of IVF twins are vulnerable to stress in early stages of adaptation to the maternal role and may require professional interventions (Baor and Soskolne, 2012).…”

Twins conceived using assisted reproduction: parent mental health, family relationships and child adjustment at middle childhood

“…These changes could result in fewer direct caregiving demands (Blau and Currie, 2006), which may allow stay-at-home parents to return to work or rekindle relationships within their social networks. In turn, this may reduce social isolation through improved social support, which serves as a protective factor in parent mental health and family relationships (Robertson et al, 2004;Baor and Soskolne, 2012). Additional research is needed to test these developmental explanations for why families with ART twins are functioning well in middle childhood.…”