Is fertility-problem stress different? The dynamics of stress in fertile and infertile couples.

OBJECTIVE

To compare the dynamics of fertility-problem stress experienced by wives and husbands in infertile couples with the dynamics of stress from other sources experienced by members of couples presumed to be fertile.

DESIGN

Relationships of stress to four marriage factors and four aspects of life quality (subjective well-being) are examined within a causal modeling framework using data from structured interviews.

SETTING

Face-to-face interviews were conducted in study participants' homes.

PARTICIPANTS

Wives and husbands from 157 couples with primary infertility and from 82 presumed-fertile couples were studied.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Final outcome measures were four multi-item scales assessing life quality with regard to the marriage, own self-efficacy, own health and appearance, and life as a whole. Intervening outcome scales measured four marriage factors: marital conflict, sexual self-esteem, sexual dissatisfaction, and frequency of intercourse.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

Higher levels of stress, regardless of whether that stress was from attempting to solve a fertility problem or another problem, were related to reduced marital functioning and decreased life quality. For husbands, the strengths of the linkages did not depend on the source of the stress. For wives, however, the causal model suggested that fertility-problem stress had stronger negative impacts on sense of sexual identity and self-efficacy than did stress from other problems (P less than 0.05). Stress from any source had more impact on the lives of wives than of husbands, more impact on satisfaction with self and general well-being than on satisfaction with the marriage or health, and affected life quality mostly indirectly through its impacts on the marriage factors.