PARENTHOOD MOTIVES IN IVF-MOTHERS

This is an exploratory study to answer two questions: (I) does in-vitr o fertilization (IVF)-mothers' motivation for parenthood differ from t he naturally conceiving mothers' motivation for parenthood? and (2) ar e IVF-mothers' parenthood motives correlated with their adjustment to parenthood (in the same way as they are for naturally conceiving mothe rs)? The study sample consisted of 31 mothers with a 24-30 month old, single-born child conceived by homologous IVF and a comparison group o f 31 mothers with a naturally conceived child. Self-rating questionnai res were used. Overall, the parenthood motivation pattern was quite si milar for IVF-mothers and mothers by natural conception. However, 'ide ntity', 'motherhood' and 'social control' were significantly more impo rtant motives for IVF-mothers than for the naturally conceiving mother s. The two former motives remained more important for IVF-mothers when findings were adjusted for the influence of the mothers' age and educ ational level. Possible explanations for these findings refer to the i nfertility history. Overall, few correlations between parenthood motiv es and the adjustment to parenthood were significant, both for the IVF -mothers and for the mothers by natural conception. Further (hypothesi s-testing) research is needed to support these findings.