Parenthood is a great blessing coupled with a host of responsibilities. The birth of a child brings many changes in the lives of its parents. Hence birth of twins means double responsibilities. The study regarding the mental health of the new parents prove that the parents of twins are mentally stressed as compared to the parents of a single child.

The study also revealed that the mother of twins born through assisted reproductive technology (ART) repot better mental health as compared to the mother of twins conceived naturally, but fathers in both the cases suffered mentally.

Dr Leila Unkila Kallio, who is a senior consultant in gynecology and obstetrics at Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki (Finland) believes that mothers through ART are prepared better mentally than natural mothers.

The study included ART parents of 91 twins and 367 singletons and control parents of 20 twins and 379 singletons (conceived spontaneously) at three time points: in the second trimester of pregnancy, when the children were two months old and when they were one year old.

The mental health of parents was assessed by using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ36).this questionnaire assessed such things as depressive symptoms, anxiety, sleeping difficulties and social dysfunction.

Dr Unkila Kallio said, “Furthermore, fathers of two-month old twins in both ART and control groups reported significantly more impaired social dysfunction than fathers of singletons.”