Impact of childlessness on life and attitudes towards continuation of medically assisted reproduction and/or adoption

• Published in: Human fertility (Cambridge, England) Vol. 18; no. 2; pp. 121 - 127
• Main Authors: Petersen, Gitte L., Blenstrup, Lene T., Peterson, Brennan D., Knudsen, Lisbeth B., Schmidt, Lone
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Informa Healthcare 01.06.2015; Taylor & Francis
• Subjects: Adoption; Adoption - psychology; Adult; assisted reproductive technology; Attitude; decision-making; family formation; Female; Humans; infertility; Infertility - psychology; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Prospective Studies; Reproductive Behavior - psychology; Reproductive Techniques, Assisted - psychology; assisted reproductive technology; family formation; infertility; decision-making; Adoption
• ISSN: 1464-7273; 1742-8149
• DOI: 10.3109/14647273.2015.1006691

Abstract Infertility and fertility treatment have the potential to impact and disrupt a couple's overall life. In order to study the associations between the impact of childlessness on one's life, and men and women's attitudes towards fertility treatment continuation and/or adoption, we analysed data from a one-year follow-up questionnaire in a prospective, longitudinal cohort study of consecutive couples initiating fertility treatment in Denmark. The study comprised 302 couples with no children at baseline and no joint children at one-year follow-up. In total, 71.9% of women and 72.5% of men reported that they wished to continue fertility treatment, while 20.2% of women and 19.2% of men reported that they wished to pursue adoption. The attitudes of nearly 8 in 10 couples were congruent towards further fertility treatments, while nearly 7 in 10 couples were congruent in their attitudes to pursuing adoption. Significantly more men who reported a lower impact of childlessness on their daily life wished to continue fertility treatment, compared with those reporting that childlessness had a greater impact on their life. Among women, significantly more were undecided about whether or not to pursue adoption when reporting a greater impact of childlessness on social life, compared with those reporting a lower impact of their childlessness.