The mediating role of emotional self-control in the relationship between infertility stress and marital exhaustion of infertile women in Birjand city

The stressful experience of infertility is related to a wide range of psychological injuries and marital exhaustion. In this regard, the present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the mediating role of emotional self-control in the relationship between infertility stress and marital burnout among infertile women in Birjand city.

The current research was descriptive of the correlation type. Its statistical population were all women who referred to the infertility center of Birjand city in the second 6 months of 2018 with primary diagnosis (never got pregnant) and secondary diagnosis (infertility after one delivery) (140 people), of which 102 people based on the table of Morgan and Gergesi, women were selected and participated in the research by available sampling method. The data collection tools were emotional self-control questionnaires by Tanjani et al. (2004), infertility stress by Newton (1999) and marital burnout by Paniz (1996). Data analysis was done with the statistical method of structural equations and using PLS-3 and SPSS 22 software packages. A P value of less than 0.05 was considered as significant difference.

The results showed that there is a negative and significant relationship between infertility stress and emotional self-control, and between emotional self-control and marital burnout. Also, infertility stress plays a role in predicting marital burnout of infertile women through the mediation of emotional self-control.

According to the results, it is suggested that training workshops be held on the topic of infertility stress coping strategies and correct methods of increasing emotional self-control for infertile women to reduce their marital burnout.