Psychosocial Impact of Infertility Diagnosis and Conformity to Gender Norms on the Quality of Life of Infertile Spanish Couples

Lidia Bueno-Sánchez (), Tamara Alhambra-Borrás, Alfonso Gallego-Valadés and Jorge Garcés-Ferrer
Additional contact information
Lidia Bueno-Sánchez: Polibienestar Research Institute, Universitat de València, 46022 València, Spain
Tamara Alhambra-Borrás: Polibienestar Research Institute, Universitat de València, 46022 València, Spain
Alfonso Gallego-Valadés: Polibienestar Research Institute, Universitat de València, 46022 València, Spain
Jorge Garcés-Ferrer: Polibienestar Research Institute, Universitat de València, 46022 València, Spain

IJERPH, 2024, vol. 21, issue 2, 1-9

Abstract: Epidemiological data show that human reproductive disorders are a common problem worldwide, affecting almost one in six people of reproductive age. As a result, infertility has been identified by the World Health Organization as a public health disease. Reproductive problems can take a heavy toll on the psychosocial well-being of couples suffering from infertility. This is especially true for women, who tend to be the ones who undergo the most treatment. The main objective of the present study is to find out whether a sex-based infertility diagnosis influences the quality of life of couples with infertility. Also, we aim to find out whether the degree of adherence to gender norms influences their quality of life. A cross-sectional study was conducted using the Fertility Quality of Life Questionnaire (FertiQoL) and the Conformity to Feminine and Masculine Norms Inventories in a sample of 219 infertile Spanish couples (438 participants). The results show that, in all cases, regardless of the degree of conformity to gender norms and whether the infertility diagnosis was of female or male origin, women have lower scores on the self-perceived quality of life. This suggests that being female is already a psychosocial risk factor when assessing the psychosocial consequences of infertility.

Keywords: infertility; psychosocial well-being; quality of life; gender norms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/2/158/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/2/158/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:2:p:158-:d:1329825

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().