Background: Undertaking fertility treatment is a stressful process and may lead to couple instability, but high levels of couple satisfaction have usually been observed during or just after treatment. However, the evidence on divorce is scarce. Objective: We investigated the association between the use of a wide range of fertility treatments and marital dissolution in a representative sample of American women in their first marriage. Methods: We applied discrete-time event history analysis to data from the US National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), collected from 2002 through 2013‒2015, to compare divorce rates among women who experienced successful treatments or unsuccessful treatments and a natural birth or no birth within the marriage (N = 13,784). Results: Women who used fertility treatments had a lower risk of divorce up to 20 years after the marriage, compared to the other groups. The probability was especially low when the treatment was successful, but women who did not conceive after the treatment also showed a lower risk of divorce. Conclusions: We found evidence that undertaking fertility treatment is associated with a lower risk of divorce, suggesting that it might strengthen couples’ relationships. The sociodemographic characteristics of couples undertaking treatment partly explained the association, but we were not able to control for the quality of the relationship before the treatment, which is likely to play a role. Contribution: Our study contributes to knowledge about the consequences of fertility treatment by comparing the long-term risk of divorce of women who have experienced successful and unsuccessful treatments, childless women, and those who have had a natural birth. Furthermore, it is the first to examine this in the US context.

中文翻译：

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使用生育治疗的夫妇离婚率更高吗？来自美国国家家庭成长调查的证据（安娜·巴布西亚 (Anna Barbuscia)、玛丽亚·西罗尼 (Maria Sironi)）

背景：进行生育治疗是一个充满压力的过程，可能会导致夫妻关系不稳定，但在治疗期间或治疗后通常会观察到夫妻满意度较高。然而，关于离婚的证据却很少。目的：我们以美国女性第一次婚姻的代表性样本为对象，调查了使用各种生育治疗与婚姻破裂之间的关联。方法：我们对 2002 年至 2013 年至 2015 年收集的美国国家家庭成长调查 (NSFG) 数据进行了离散时间事件历史分析，以比较经历过成功治疗或不成功治疗以及自然分娩或自然分娩的女性的离婚率。婚内无生育（N = 13,784）。结果：与其他群体相比，接受生育治疗的女性在婚后 20 年内离婚的风险较低。当治疗成功时，这种可能性特别低，但治疗后未怀孕的女性离婚的风险也较低。结论：我们发现有证据表明接受生育治疗与较低的离婚风险相关，这表明它可能会加强夫妻关系。接受治疗的夫妇的社会人口学特征在一定程度上解释了这种关联，但我们无法在治疗前控制关系的质量，这可能会发挥一定的作用。贡献：我们的研究通过比较经历过成功和不成功治疗的女性、无子女的女性和自然分娩的女性的长期离婚风险，有助于了解生育治疗的后果。此外，它是第一个在美国背景下对此进行研究的。