Four months post-partum ART mothers

Four months post-partum ART mothers had lower self-esteem
and maternal self-efficacy than SC mothers (McMahon et al.,
1997b). Mothers who had required more than one ART treatment
cycle to conceive had lower maternal self-efficacy than those who
had conceived on the first cycle, which suggests that the corrosive
effects of treatment-failure on confidence accrue. Lower selfconfidence
persisted: 1 year post-partum, these ART mothers
had lower sense of parenting competence than the SC group and
tended to have lower self-esteem (Gibson et al., 2000b). Gibson
et al. (2000b) also found lower self-esteem, but not paternal selfefficacy
among ART than SC fathers 1 year post-partum.