Journal of Reproduction & Infertility

Journal of Reproduction & Infertility

The Relation Between Marital Adjustment and Posttraumatic Growth in Infertile Couples: The Mediatory Role of Religious Coping Strategies

Authors
Seyyedeh Fatemeh Ghafouri 1
Saeed Ghanbari 1
Hajar Fallahzadeh 1
Omid Shokri 2
1 Department of Counseling, Faculty of Psychology and Education, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
2 Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Education, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Background: Infertility as a crisis can both lead to negative reactions and stress in infertile couples and bring about positive reactions and growth, to which henceforth posttraumatic growth is referred. This study was conducted to model the relation between martial adjustment and posttraumatic growth through the mediation of religious coping strategies in infertile couples. Methods: This correlation-based study was performed on 250 couples at the infertility center of Shariati hospital, Tehran, Iran, selected via convenience sampling. They answered to the Marital Adjustment Scale, the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, and the Religious Coping Strategies Inventory. This study used Structural Equation Modeling. Results: The results showed significant positive relationships between marital adjustment and both positive religious coping strategies and posttraumatic growth. A significant positive relationship between positive religious coping strategies and posttraumatic growth was also detected. Positive religious coping strategies were observed to play a mediatory role between marital adjustment and posttraumatic growth. This was the case while attributing such a mediatory role to negative coping strategies was not possible. Conclusion: Based on the results, this study can be seen as further evidence showing the necessity of focusing on the role of positive religious coping strategies in marital adjustment and posttraumatic growth in infertile couples.
Keywords
coping strategies
Infertile couple
Marital adjusment
Posttraumatic growth
religion
  1. Practice Committee of American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Definitions of infertility and recurrent pregnancy loss. Fertil Steril. 2008;90(5 Suppl):S60.
  2. Gibson DM, Myers JE. Gender and infertility: a relational approach to counseling women. J Couns Dev. 2000:78(40):400-10.
  3. Herrmann D, Scherg H, Verres R, von Hagens C, Strowitzki T, Wischmann T. Resilience in infertile couples acts as a protective factor against infertility-specific distress and impaired quality of life. J Assist Reprod Genet. 2011;28(11):1111-7.
  4. Bradow A. Primary and secondary infertility and post traumatic stress disorder: experiential differences between type of infertility and symptom characteristics. US: Spalding University, Louisville, KY; 2012; 125 p.
  5. Paul MS, Berger R, Berlow N, Rovner-Ferguson H, Figlerski L, Gardner S, et al. Posttraumatic growth and social support in individuals with infertility. Hum Reprod. 2010;25(1):133-41.
  6. Galhardo A, Pinto-Gouveia J, Cunha M, Matos M. The impact of shame and self-judgment on psychopathology in infertile patients. Hum Reprod. 2011;26(9):2408-14.
  7. Anderson KM, Sharpe M, Rattray A, Irvine DS. Distress and concerns in couples referred to a specialist infertility clinic. J Psychosom Res. 2003;54(4):353-5.
  8. Tamannayi Far MR. [A comparative study of mental health, marital adjustment and coping responses among fertile-infertile women]. Clin Psychol Personal. 2011;2(4):51-60. Persian.
  9. Rasouli R, Etemadi A, Shafi’abadi A, Delavar A. [Comparing effectiveness of individual and marital emotionally focused intervention based on decreasing relationship distress of couples with chronically ill children]. Fam Rese. 2007;3(11):683-96. Persian.
  10. Choadhari NP, Patel HJ. A study about marital adjustment among female of urban & rural mehsana (Gujarat). personal Clin stud. 2009;1(2):70-5.
  11. Fredrickson BL. How Does Religion Benefit Health and Well-Being? Are Positive Emotions Active Ingredients? Relig Psycholog. 2002;13(3):209-13.
  12. Fredrickson BL. What good are positive emotions? Rev Gen Psychol. 1998;2(3):300-19.
  13. Greef AP. Characteristics of families that function well. Fam Issues. 2000;21(8):948-62.
  14. Rasouli R, Soltanegerd S. [The comparison and relationship between religious orientation and practical commitment to religious beliefs with marital adjustment in seminary scholars and university students]. Fam Res. 2013;8(32), 427-39. Persian.
  15. Peterson-Post KM, Rhoades GK, Stanley SM, Markman HJ. Perceived criticism and marital adjustment predict depressive symptoms in a community sample. Behav Ther. 2014;45(4):564-75.
  16. Qadir F, Khalid A, Haqqani S, Zill-e-Huma, Medhin G. The association of marital relationship and perceived social support with mental health of women in Pakistan. BMC Public Health. 2013;13(1):1150.
  17. Sayers SL, Kohn CS, Fresco DM. Marital conflict and depression in the context of marital discord. Cognit Ther Res. 2001;25(6):713-32.
  18. Peterson BD, Newton CR, Rosen KH, Schulman RS. Dyadic coping processes of men and women in infertile couples and their relationship to infertility stress, marital adjustment, and depression. Fertil Stril. 2004;82(2):S104.
  19. Mollayinejad M, Jafarpour M, Jahanfar S, Jamshidi R. [The relationship between marital adjustment and the stress caused by infertility in women in Isfahan center for infertility treatment]. Fertil Infertil. 2000;2(5):26-39. Persian.
  20. Repokari L, Punamäki RL, Unkila-Kallio L, Vilska S, Poikkeus P, Sinkkonen J, et al. Infertility treatment and marital relationships: a 1-year prospective study among successfully treated ART couples and their controls. Hum Reprod. 2007;22(5):1481-91.
  21. Tedeschi RG, Park CL, Calhoun GL. Posttraumatic Growth: Positive Changes in the Aftermath of Crisis. New Jersey: Taylor & Francis e-Library; 2009. Chapter 5, The context for posttraumatic growth: Life crises, individual and social resources, and coping; p. 99-124.
  22. Ho SM, Chan CL, Ho RT. Posttraumatic growth in Chinese cancer survivors. Psychooncology. 2004;13(6):377-89.
  23. Bellizzi KM. Expressions of generativity and posttraumatic growth in adult cancer survivors. Int J Aging Hum Dev. 2004;58(4):267-87.
  24. Cadell S, Regehr C, Hemsworth D. Factors contributing to posttraumatic growth: a proposed structural equation model. Am J Orthopsychiatry. 2003;73(3):279-87.
  25. Calhoun LG, Cann A, Tedeschi RG, McMillan J. A correlational test of the relationship between posttraumatic growth, religion, and cognitive processing. J Trauma Stress. 2000;13(3):521-7.
  26. Tedeschi RG, Calhoun LG. Posttraumatic growth: Conceptual foundations and empirical evidence. Psychol Inq. 2004;15(1):1-18.
  27. Park CL, Cohen LH, Murch RL. Assessment and prediction of stress-related growth. J Pers. 1996;64(1):71-105.
  28. Moussavi P. [The relationship between general and religious coping strategies with distress and posttraumatic growth] [master’s thesis]. [Tehran]: Tarbiat Modarres University; 2008. 208 p. Persian.
  29. Collings RL, Taylor SE, Skokan LA. A better world or a shattered vision? Changes in life perspectives following victimization. Soc Cogn. 1990;8(3):263-85.
  30. Spanier GB. Measuring dyadic adjustment: New scales for assessing the quality of marriage and similar dyads. Marriage Fam. 1976;38(1):15-28.
  31. Spanier GB, Thompson L. A confirmatory analysis of the dyadic adjustment scale. Marriage Fam. 1982;44(3):731-8.
  32. Mollazadeh J. [The relationship between marital adjustment with personality factors and coping style in control children]. [dissertation]. [Tehran]: Tarbiat Modarres University. 2002. 188 p. Persian.
  33. Sanaee B. [Family and Marriage Scales Compiled]. Tehran: Be’sat; 2008. 240 p. Persian.
  34. Tedeschi RG, Calhoun LG. The posttraumatic growth inventory: Measuring the positive legacy of trauma. J Trauma Stress. 1996;9(3):455-71.
  35. Pargament KI, Koenig HG, Perez LM. The many methods of religious coping: development and initial validation of the RCOPE. J Clin Psychol. 2000;56(4):519-43.
  36. Ghiami Z. The relationship between attachment modes with religious coping methods. Psychol Educ. 2005;35(1):221-33.
  37. Schmidt SD, Holstein B, Christensen U, Boivin J. Does infertility marital benefit? Patient Educ Couns. 2005;59(3):244-51.
  38. Biringer E, Howard LM, Kessler U, Stewart R, Mykletun A. Is infertility really associated with higher levels of mental distress in the female population? Results from the North-Trondelag Health Study and the Medical Birth Registry of Norway. J Psychosom Obstet Gynaecol. 2015;36(2):38-45.
  39. Kormi Nouri R, Akhondi MM, Behjati Ardakani Z. Psychosocial aspects of infertility from viewpoint of infertility treating physicians. J Reprod Infertil. 2001;2(3):13-26.
  40. Schmidt SD, Blank TO, Bellizzi KM, Park CL. The relationship of coping strategies, social support, and attachment style with posttraumatic growth in cancer survivors. J Health Psychol. 2012;17(7):1033-40.
  41. Büyükaşik-Colak C, Gündoğdu-Aktürk E, Bozo O. Mediating role of coping in the dispositional optimism-posttraumatic growth relation in breast cancer patients. J Psychol. 2012;146(5):471-83.
  42. Folkman S, Moskowitz JT. Positive affect and the other side of coping. Am Psychol. 2000;55(6):647-54.
  43. Pargament KI. The psychology of religion and coping: Theory, research and practice. New York: Guilford Publication; 1997. 548 p.
  44. Ano GG, Vasconcelles EB. Religious coping and psychological adjustment to stress: a meta-analysis. J Clin Psychol. 2005;61(4):461-80.
  45. Hunler OS, Gencoz T. The effect of religiousness on marital satisfaction: testing the mediator role of marital problem solving between religiousness and marital satisfaction. Contemp Fam Ther. 2005;27(1): 123-36.
  46. Garland DR, Dyer P, Stelzer K. How clergy sexual misconduct happens: A qualitative study of first-hand accounts. Social Work and Christianity. 2010;37(1):1-27.
  47. Schramm DG, Marshall JP, Harris VW, Lee TR. Religiosity, Homogamy, and marital adjustment: An examination of newlyweds in first marriages and remarriages. J Fam Issues. 2012;33(2):246-68.
Journal of Reproduction & Infertility
Volume 17, Issue 4
Autumn 2016
Pages 221-229