Parenting and the psychological development of a representative sample of triplets conceived by assisted reproduction.

Background: The aim of the study was to examine the quality of parenting and the psychological development of three-year-old children in IVF/ICSI families with triplets.

Methods: Comparisons were carried out between a representative sample of 10 families with triplets and matched groups of 15 families with twins and 30 families with singletons. The families were recruited from Follow-Up, a national organization in France that was established to study children conceived by assisted reproduction. Standardized measures of the mother's psychological well-being (parenting stress, depression and quality of marriage) and standardized measures of the child's psychological development (emotional/behavioural problems and general development) were completed by the mother.

Results: Mothers with a multiple birth were found to experience greater difficulties in parenting than mothers of singletons, with no differences between mothers of triplets and mothers of twins. Regarding the children, there were no differences in emotional or behavioural problems between triplets, twins and singletons. However, there were indications of mild delay among triplets and twins in some aspects of language development in comparison with the singleton children.

Conclusions: The birth of triplets or twins does appear to cause difficulties for parents in the early years, however, the children themselves do not seem to experience markedly raised levels of psychological or developmental problems.