Abstract

Fertility problems are known to exert a negative impact on psychological health. Meanwhile, individuals with fertility challenges often view adoption as a positive healing experience. Yet, a dearth of work has examined the long-term impact that fertility problems have on adoptive parents and their childrearing stress. Here, we investigated how fertility problems related to parenting daily hassle (PDH) trajectories among adoptive mothers and fathers in the Early Growth and Development Study (N = 333). When adopted children were 9 months old, adoptive parents reported whether they had fertility problems prior to their decision to adopt and rated their PDH frequency and intensity on six occasions over the next 7 years. Multilevel models revealed inverse U-shaped curves for PDH among both fertile and infertile parents, such that PDH increased from child age 9 months until about 5 to 6 years and decreased thereafter. Mothers with fertility problems exhibited a steeper PDH incline from 9 months to the peak at child age 5 to 6, but also incurred a swifter subsequent decline. There were no significant differences in fathers’ PDH trajectories based on fertility problems. We discuss why fertility problems appear to impact PDH trajectories for mothers rather than fathers.

摘要

众所周知，生育问题会对心理健康产生负面影响。与此同时，有生育障碍的人通常将收养视为一种积极的治疗体验。然而，缺乏研究调查生育问题对养父母及其育儿压力的长期影响。在这里，我们在早期生长发育研究中调查了生育问题如何与养育母亲和父亲的养育日常麻烦 (PDH) 轨迹相关 ( N = 333）。当收养的孩子 9 个月大时，养父母报告他们在决定收养之前是否有生育问题，并在接下来的 7 年中六次评估他们的 PDH 频率和强度。多级模型揭示了生育和不育父母的 PDH 呈倒 U 形曲线，因此 PDH 从儿童 9 个月大到大约 5 至 6 岁增加，此后下降。有生育问题的母亲表现出从 9 个月到 5 至 6 岁儿童峰值的更陡峭的 PDH 倾斜，但随后也出现更快的下降。基于生育问题的父亲的 PDH 轨迹没有显着差异。我们讨论了为什么生育问题似乎会影响母亲而不是父亲的 PDH 轨迹。