Couples becoming parents: something special after IVF?

The majority of catamnestic studies on successful IVF treatment deal with the development of the children and the parent-child-relationship. Far fewer studies pay attention to the changes within the relationship of couples that become parents. This particular study focused on the transition from partnership to parenthood with assessments at different measuring points (T1: the last trimester of pregnancy; T2: 3 months after birth; and T3: 12 months after birth) and compared 47 IVF couples with 45 couples that conceived naturally. The couples were observed with psychodynamic couple interviews and standardized as well as non-standardized questionnaires. The most striking result of our study was the inconspicuousness of IVF couples and their parent-child-relationship. Partnerships featured a high degree of satisfaction among the couples; the progress of pregnancy was described as very satisfying and free of complaints. Surprisingly these descriptions were given despite more frequent and longer hospital stays by the IVF women during their pregnancy. However, IVF couples acted less openly in the interviews and expressed their own feelings less often, especially the more negative ones. In the partnerships we found that IVF women displayed more avoiding tendencies in their relationships 1 year after the birth of their child/children.