Table 4.

Grouping of and importance of factors important to decisions about cryopreserved embryos

		Importance (%)
Principal Components and Corresponding Survey Items	SL*	Not at all	Not very	Some what	Very
Concerns about the woman's health
My view that I should not be pregnant after a certain age	.69	33	20	22	12
My view that after a certain age I or my partner should not be a parent	.61	38	23	17	7
The impact that more IVF cycles could have on my health	.82	18	20	28	23
The emotional stress of more IVF cycles	.61	15	19	32	27
The impact that a multiple pregnancy could have on my physical health	.79	13	22	31	25
The impact that a pregnancy could have on my physical health	.82	20	24	30	19
Concerns about embryo, fetus or potential child
My concern that infertile couples to whom I could donate embryos are not screened well enough	.49	17	19	23	23
The feeling that I am responsible for the well being of any child that could result from my embryos	.41	10	13	23	45
My concern that researchers to whom I could donate embryos would allow the embryo to develop into a baby	.71	16	17	18	38
Concern about the possibility of my stored embryo being transferred to another woman without my knowledge	.80	19	25	19	30
The possibility that the embryo could get damaged in the storage facility	.79	18	31	25	20
The possibility of birth defects in a pregnancy resulting from my frozen embryos	.65	15	25	27	27
My concern about what would happen to the frozen embryos if something happened to me before I were to use them	.73	19	28	26	21
My view that none of the options where I store my embryos seems acceptable to me	.57	23	22	11	9
Altruism
Wanting to help other infertile couples become pregnant (donate to another couple trying to have a baby)	.80	14	17	32	22
Wanting to help other infertile couples become pregnant (donate frozen embryos for research)	.76	11	13	32	32
Wanting to help find cures for diseases like Alzheimer's or diabetes	.45	7	7	25	52
Concerns about family/finances
The size of my family	.62	12	12	26	44
The impact that a multiple pregnancy could have on my family	.59	18	20	30	27
The financial cost of having additional fresh cycles of IVF	.71	16	18	26	29
The financial cost of raising additional children	.78	22	27	30	17
The financial cost of frozen embryo transfer	.64	28	34	22	11
Independent factors
Wanting to preserve my ability to get pregnant as I get older		29	18	24	16
Not wanting someone else to whom I could donate my embryos raising my genetic child		7	11	21	53
My feeling that thawing and discarding is wasteful		8	12	26	50
My partner's/spouse's opinion about what to do with embryos		7	8	21	60

^*Standardized loading. Items retained in domain were those that that loaded > .40 on the primary factor and < .30 on the other factors