Schmid Julia Jeannine, Ehlert Ulrike
Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
URPP Human Reproduction Reloaded, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
J Assist Reprod Genet. 2025 Jul 9. doi: 10.1007/s10815-025-03572-9.
Overcoming infertility through assisted reproductive technology (ART) is stressful and requires a high level of investment. Infertility, ART, and associated stress may continue to affect the family even after birth. This systematic review and meta-analysis compared psychological outcomes in families formed through ART (ART families) and families formed through natural conception (NC families), while examining factors that may promote healthy development in ART families.
We systematically searched PsycINFO, PsycArticles, and PubMed for studies published up to mid-October 2024 comparing aspects of psychological family functioning in ART and NC families beyond the first year postpartum. Eighty-nine studies were included in the review and 33 in the random-effects meta-analysis.
Mental health and parental relationship quality were comparable between ART and NC parents. Compared to NC mothers, ART mothers reported slightly lower parenting stress, comparable to better mother-child relationships, and higher parental commitment. ART and NC children showed comparable intelligence and cognitive and psychomotor development, with evidence of better language skills and slightly lower school performance in ART children. Psychosocial development was marginally better in ART children according to mothers' reports, although mental health outcomes were comparable or slightly worse.
Overall, family functioning after ART seems to be similar to that of NC families. ART parents may exhibit protective sociodemographic characteristics, high resilience, and strong maternal commitment, potentially buffering infertility, ART, and stress effects. Further investigation is warranted to address methodological limitations evident in the existing literature and to explore protective factors in ART families.
通过辅助生殖技术（ART）克服不孕症压力巨大且需要高额投入。不孕症、ART及相关压力即便在孩子出生后可能仍会持续影响家庭。本系统评价和荟萃分析比较了通过ART组建的家庭（ART家庭）和通过自然受孕组建的家庭（NC家庭）的心理状况，同时探究了可能促进ART家庭健康发展的因素。
我们系统检索了PsycINFO、PsycArticles和PubMed数据库，查找截至2024年10月中旬发表的比较产后第一年之后ART家庭和NC家庭心理家庭功能方面的研究。89项研究纳入本评价，33项纳入随机效应荟萃分析。
ART父母和NC父母的心理健康及亲子关系质量相当。与NC母亲相比，ART母亲报告的育儿压力略低，母子关系相当或更好，且育儿投入更高。ART儿童和NC儿童的智力、认知及心理运动发育相当，有证据表明ART儿童语言技能更好但学业表现略低。根据母亲报告，ART儿童的心理社会发展略好，尽管心理健康结果相当或略差。
总体而言，ART后的家庭功能似乎与NC家庭相似。ART父母可能展现出保护性的社会人口学特征、高复原力和强烈的母亲投入，这可能缓冲不孕症、ART及压力的影响。有必要进一步研究以解决现有文献中明显的方法学局限性，并探索ART家庭中的保护因素。
Zotero 插件