Family Fact: IVF

Family Quote: Mis-Begotten or Made?

Family Research Abstract: Test Tube Teens

"From 1995 to 1998, the most recent year for which national data are available, in vitro fertilization procedures increased by 37 percent, from about 59,000 to about 81,000, and the number of clinics rose by 28 percent, from 281 to 360."

(Source: Gina Kolata, "Fertility, Inc.: Clinics Race to Lure Clients," The New York Times, January 1, 2002.) 

"The prenatal testing of all children has become an almost commonplace occurrence; but the testing of embryos created by IVF seems to be mandatory-both prior to, and after, implantation...  With IVF [in vitro fertilization], illness is not the problem; perfection is. If one can have a made-to order baby, anything "out of spec"-borrowing from the engineering professions-cannot be tolerated. Why not abort and try again?  ...Let it suffice to say that man, in this case, has entered into this venture without the requisite forethought necessary."

(Source: Karl John Shields, "Mis-Begotten or Made? Assisted Reproductive Technologies and the Link to Cloning," Crux, The Center for Bioethics and Culture, Summer 2001 [www.thecbc.org].) 

The world's first test-tube baby-that is, a child conceived via in vitro fertilization (IVF)-turned 23 in the year 2001.  Thousands more IVF children are entering adolescence, with even more on the way.  With adolescence being a potentially stormy time for any child, the authors of a study published in Child Development explore how IVF kids get along with their parents, acknowledging that, "[t]he new reproductive technologies have advanced at such a rapid pace that studies of the consequences for children who result from these procedures have lagged far behind."

The authors, from City University in London, sought to establish what, if any, differences exists in the parent-teen relationship between children conceived naturally, and those conceived by IVF.  In addition, the British researchers included adopted children in their investigation in an attempt to account for those issues that might be assignable to the "presence or absence of a genetic link."

The researchers found that there were significant negative differences in parent-adolescent relationships in two areas:  First, mothers of both IVF and adopted children exhibited lower levels of sensitive responding toward their children than did mothers who conceived their children naturally (p < .01).  However, the authors note, "Contrast analyses indicated that mothers who had experienced infertility showed lower levels of sensitive responding than did mothers with a naturally conceived child (user contrast, EI versus NC), t = -2.93, p < .005.  There was no significant difference in degree of sensitive responding between IVF and adoptive mothers." Secondly, for children not conceived naturally, there was a significant difference in the way they see their parents interacting with them in times of conflict.  Both adoptive and IVF mothers and fathers were perceived to reason less with their children than reported by naturally-conceived adolescents: "contrast analyses indicate less reasoning between the mother and child (user contrast, EI versus NC), t = -2.51, p < .05), and between the father and child (user contrast, EI versus NC), t = -3.32, p < .005)."  Yet again, there was no significant difference in reasoning between the IVF and adoptive families.

The researchers draw the following conclusion: "Thus, compared to naturally conceived children, adopted and IVF children seem to perceive that their parents reason with them less during conflict...indicat[ing] that when conflict occurs, IVF and adoptive parents may become less involved than natural parents."  It appears that while genetics is not everything, that bond between parent and child is still stronger than technology. 

(Susan Golombok, Fiona MacCallum, and Emma Goodman, "The 'Test-Tube' Generation: Parent-Child Relationships and the Psychological Well-Being of In Vitro Fertilization Children at Adolescence," Child Development, vol. 72, no, 2 [March/April 2001], p. 599-608.)