Hardiness, stress and coping sterategies in infertile couples

Infertility is a critical factor that would influence different life aspects of infertile couples. It is a fundamental stressed event in individual's life. Hardiness as a specific personality trait will impact individual’s resistance in collating with stress. The purpose of this study is to determine relationships between hardiness, stress and copping strategies in infertile couples.Methods and Materials: In this descriptive analytic study, performed as a profile section with on-hand sampling, 50 infertile couples participated. The instruments used in data collection procedure in this study included Ahvaz Hardiness Questionnaire, Stress Questionnaire of Newton Infertile, Copping Strategies of 40, Jalvis Statement and Social Supporting Scale. The data were analyzed by chi-square, Pearson correlation coefficients, and one–way ANOVA. Findings of this study showed a reverse and significant relationship (P=0.05) between hardiness levels and stress components, as well as a significant relationship (P<001) between hardiness and coping strategies and stress. Therefore, individuals with high hardiness would pay more attention to centralized approaches to problem and individuals with low hardiness have more attitudes toward applying centralized approaches to emotions in confronting stress resulting from infertility. Moreover, the research findings showed a significant relationship (P<0.01) between hardiness and social-support.Conclustion: Phsycological factors and personality traits such as hardiness play an important role in the infertility phenomenon.