Comparing Sexual Self-Concept, Subjective Wellbeing, and Family Resilience in Infertile Women with High and Low Marital Adjustment

Family is among the central institutions of different societies. Numerous characteristics can affect a couple's marital adjustment, including fertility. Infertility can impact the biopsychosocial dimensions of quality of life as a significant crisis. Sexual intercourse is a manner to express natural and spontaneous intimacy; however, when it becomes a tool for pregnancy and does not lead to it, the couple is under pressure and experience frustration. Such a low self–concept and sexual dissatisfaction lead to the couple's lack of intimacy. Infertility is a dramatic adverse event in life with devastating effects on women's mental wellbeing. Resilience can affect the stress of infertility and marital adjustment. Infertility might affect various aspects of a couple's life, including marital adjustment. The present study compared sexual self–concept, mental wellbeing, and family resilience in infertile women with high and low marital adjustment.

The present causal–comparative study compared sexual self–concept, mental wellbeing, and family resilience between two groups of women with high and low marital adjustment. The statistical population of the present study included all infertile women referring to infertility treatment centers in Khuzestan and Isfahan Cities, Iran, for 3 months in 2018. Regarding the sample size, 260 individuals were selected by the convenience sampling method using Krejcie and Morgan table. According to the number of research variables, the sample subjects were divided into two groups with high and low marital adjustment. After calculating the mean scores of marital adjustment, the study participants were divided by the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spanier, 1976), individuals whose scores were higher than the standard deviation above the mean score and lower than the standard deviation below the mean value, respectively. The total sample size equaled 158 people. The study's inclusion criteria were Iranian nationality, literacy, age 18 years or older, and a medical diagnosis of infertility (primary & secondary) by a physician. Besides, the exclusion criteria included acute psychiatric disorders and using psychotropic drugs. To observe the ethical principles in the present study, the distribution and completion of all questionnaires were performed by the researcher. The other instruments of measurement were the Multidimensional Sexual Self–Concept Questionnaire (Snell, 1998), Family Resilience Scale (Sixbey, 2005), and Subjective Wellbeing Scale (Keyes & Magyar–Moe, 2003). The obtained data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, such as mean, standard deviation, and inferential statistics, such as univariate Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) in SPSS at the significance level of 0.05.

The obtained results suggested a significant difference between infertile women with high and low marital adjustment concerning sexual self–concept (p<0.001), subjective wellbeing (p=0.007), and family resilience (p=0.003).

Infertile women with low marital adjustment had lower sexual self–concept, lower mental wellbeing, and lower family resilience. Thus, marital adjustment can be considered an essential factor in providing psychological services to infertile couples.