Relationship quality in lesbian and heterosexual couples undergoing treatment with assisted reproduction

One of the major factors impacting on a couples relationship is the desire to have children. To many couples having a child is a confirmation of their love and relationship and a means to deepen and develop their intimate relationship. At the same time parental stress can impact on relationship quality. Relationship quality in lesbian couples is, currently, sparsely studied. The aim of the present study was to compare lesbian and heterosexual couples perceptions of their relationship quality at the commencement of assisted reproduction, and to relate this to background data such as educational level, having previous children and, for lesbian couples, the use of a known versus anonymous donor. less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanThe present study is part of the prospective longitudinal oSwedish study on gamete donation, including all fertility clinics performing donation treatment in Sweden. Of a consecutive cohort of 214 lesbian couples about to receive donor insemination and 212 heterosexual couples starting regular IVF treatment, 166 lesbian couples (78 response) and 151 heterosexual couples (71 response) accepted participation in the study. At commencement of assisted reproduction participants individually completed questionnaires including the instrument oENRICH, which is a standardized measure concerning relationship quality. less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanIn general, the couples rated their relationship quality as good, the lesbian couple better than the heterosexuals. In addition, the lesbian women with previous children assessed their relationship quality lower than did the lesbian woman without previous children. For heterosexual couples previous children did not influence their relationship quality. Higher educational levels reduced the satisfaction with the sexual relationship (P 0.04) for treated lesbian women, and enhanced the rating of conflict resolution for treated lesbian women (P 0.03) and their partners (P 0.02). Heterosexual women with high levels of education expressed more satisfaction with communication in their relationship (P 0.02) than did heterosexual women with lower educational levels. less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanIn this Swedish study sample of lesbian and heterosexual couples relationships, we found that they were generally well adjusted and stable in their relationships when starting treatment with donated sperm or IVF, respectively. However, where lesbian women had children from a previous relationship, it decreased relationship quality. For the heterosexual couples previous children did not affect relationship quality.Funding Agencies|Merck Serono||Uppsala/ Orebro Regional Research Council||Medical Research Council of Southeast Sweden|

Parents' assessment of parent-child interaction interventions – a longitudinal study in 101 families

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The aim of the study was to describe families with small children who participated in parent-child interaction interventions at four centres in Sweden, and to examine long term and short term changes regarding the parents' experience of parental stress, parental attachment patterns, the parents' mental health and life satisfaction, the parents' social support and the children's problems.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this longitudinal study a consecutive sample of 101 families (94 mothers and 54 fathers) with 118 children (median age 3 years) was assessed, using self-reports, at the outset of the treatment (T1), six months later (T2) and 18 months after the beginning of treatment (T3). Analysis of the observed differences was carried out using Wilcoxon's Signed-Rank test and Cohen's d.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The results from commencement of treatment showed that the parents had considerable problems in all areas examined. At the outset of treatment (T1) the mothers showed a higher level of problem load than the fathers on almost all scales. In the families where the children's problems have also been measured (children from the age of four) it appeared that they had problems of a nature and degree otherwise found in psychiatric populations. We found a clear general trend towards a positive development from T1 to T2 and this development was also reinforced from T2 to T3. Aggression in the child was one of the most common causes for contact. There were few undesired or unplanned interruptions of the treatment, and the attrition from the study was low.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study has shown that it is possible to reach mothers as well as fathers with parenting problems and to create an intervention program with very low dropout levels – which is of special importance for families with small children displaying aggressive behaviour. The parents taking part in this study showed clear improvement trends after six months and this development was reinforced a year later. This study suggests the necessity of clinical development and future research concerning the role of fathers in parent-child interaction interventions.</p

Psychiatric and somatic health in relation to expereince of parental divorce in childhood

Background: The outcome of studies about experience of parental divorce and effects on mental and physical health differs in result possibly caused by the use of different questionnaires and instruments, varying length of time since the divorce and divergent drop-off of participants. Aims: To study the presence of psychiatric records and number of diagnosed somatic and mental health care visits in a group of young adults with childhood experience of parental divorce in comparison to a group without this experience. Methods: The presence of a record at the public psychiatric clinics and ten years of administrative health care data (somatic and mental) was checked for both groups. Results: Significantly more persons from the divorce group occurred in child and adolescent psychiatric care, most pronounced women. However, no significant difference between the groups in number of persons seeking adult psychiatry, or in number of psychiatric consultations was present. Experience of parental divorce was not either found to be an indicator of larger somatic health problems. Conclusion: Experience of parental divorce in childhood is not an indicator of adult psychiatric or somatic need of care.Grown-up children of divorce: Expereinces and healt

The Problem of Authenticity in Latvian Neofolklore Movement

Bakalaura darba mērķis ir apskatīt un analizēt jēdziena “autentisks” izpratni un nozīmi folkloras kustībā Latvijā, šīs izpratnes problemātiku un sekas. Darbā gaitā tika izvirzīta un pierādīta hipotēze — autentiskumam ir liela nozīme Latvijas folklorā, taču tā traktējums folkloras kustības kontekstā ir ideoloģisks un tā pielietojums ir diezgan nekonkrēts un subjektīvs. Autentiskums ir viens no konceptuāli nozīmīgākajiem atslēgvārdiem Latvijas folkloras kustībā. Autentiskuma problemātika un tās dažādie traktējumi ir ietekmējuši folkloras kustību, un šī ietekme būtu jāpēta kompleksi, no dažādu akadēmisko disciplīnu (socioloģijas, psiholoģijas, filozofijas, mākslas zinātnes, muzikoloģijas, tūrisma industrijas u. c) viedokļa, jo autentiskuma paradigmas ietekmi un refleksiju folkloras kustībā nav iespējams pētīt tikai no folkloristikas skatpunkta.The goal of this Bachelor's thesis is to inspect and analyse understanding and significance of the term “authentic” regarding neo-folklore movement in Latvia, as well as problems and consequences that stem from this understanding. In this work a hypothesis has been proposed and proven which suggests that authenticity has a great significance in Latvian folklore, however its definition in the context of the Latvian neo-folklore movement is ideological and its usage is fairly vague and subjective. Authenticity is one of the conceptually most significant keywords in the Latvian neo-folklore movement. Authenticity's problems and their different subjective definitions have made a huge impact upon the neo-folklore movement and this impact should be investigated as a complex topic from the point of view of different academic disciplines (such as sociology, psychology, philosophy, art science, musicology, tourism industry etc.) as the authenticity paradigm's influence and reflection on neofolklore movement can not be researched only from the single perspective of folkloristics

Fifteen years after parental divorce : mental health and experienced life-events

The children who experienced their parents divorce when the divorce rate in Sweden had begun to grow to higher levels than in preceding decades are today adults. The aim of this study was to investigate if adults who had experienced parental divorce 15 years before the time of our study, differed in mental health from those with continuously married parents, taking into account life events other than the divorce. Instruments used were the Symptom Checklist (SCL-90) measuring mental health and the Life Event questionnaire capturing the number and experience of occurred events. Forty-eight persons, who were 7-18 years old when their parents divorced, constituted the divorce group, and 48 persons matched on age, sex and growth environment formed the study groups. The SCL-90 showed a limited difference between the groups, but not concerning total mental health. A main finding was a difference with regard to sex and age; women aged 22-27 in the divorce group displayed poorer mental health than other participants in both groups. The results from the Life Event questionnaire showed that the divorce group had experienced a significantly larger number of events, and more life events were described as negative with difficult adjustment. A regression analysis showed a significant relation between the SCL-90, Global Severity Index and life events experienced as negative with difficult adjustment, divorce events excluded, but not with the divorce itself. It seems highly desirable to pay more attention than has thus far been paid to girls with experience of childhood divorce at age 7-12.This is an electronic version of an article published in:Teresia Ängarne-Lindberg and Marie Wadsby, Fifteen years after parental divorce: mental health and experienced life-events, 2009, NORDIC JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY, (63), 1, 32-43.NORDIC JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY is available online at informaworldTM:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08039480802098386Copyright: Taylor & Francishttp://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/default.as