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Articles

Infertility-Related Perceptions and Responses and Their Associations With Quality of Life Among Rural Chinese Infertile Couples

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Pages 248-267 | Published online: 04 Aug 2009
 

Abstract

An anonymous cross-sectional survey interviewed 192 infertile couples consulting a family planning clinic in rural China. Of them, over 30% believed that childless couples could not live well, 80% desired to have a child very badly, over 60% pressured themselves or spouse due to infertility, and over 50% felt pressured when having sex. Furthermore, 19.8% of men and 37.5% of women felt that infertility is humiliating for women. A multivariate analyses showed that a lower income, a worsened spousal relationship, infertility related perceptions, pressuring oneself or spouse due to infertility, and a strong desire for children were significantly associated with a lowered quality of life. Gender differences were also observed.

The author would like to thank all study participants. Thanks are extended to staff of the Denfeng Family Planning Clinic for their assistance in collecting the data for this study.

Notes

* Variables that were not significant in the all 3 cases were not tabulated (for husbands: age, age at marriage, belief that both spouses are responsible for infertility, duration of infertility; for wives: age, education level, age at marriage, belief that infertility is humiliating for women, belief that couples could live well without a child, belief that both spouse are responsible for infertility, strong desire to have a child, feeling pressured when having sex, and duration of infertility): Univariately nonsignificant, NS: Univariately but not multivariately significant.

* Variables that were not significant in the all 3 cases were not tabulated (For husband: age, education level, age at marriage, whether childless, the belief that both spouses are responsible for infertility, infertility could be due to husband's reasons; For the wife: age, education level, age at marriage, per capita monthly family income, whether childless, belief that couples could live well without a child, belief that both spouses could be responsible for infertility, infertility could be due to husband's problems): Univariately non-significant: Univariately but not multivariately significant.

* Variables that were not significant in the all 3 cases were not tabulated (for husbands: age, age at marriage, whether childless, the belief that a couple could well without a child, belief that both spouses are responsible for infertility, strong desire to have a child, Pressuring oneself, pressure when having sex, For wives: age, age at marriage, whether childless, strong desire to have a child, worsened spousal relationship, pressure when having sex): Univariately nonsignificant, NS: Univariately but not multivariately significant.

* Variables that were not significant in the all 3 cases were not tabulated (For husbands: age, education level, age at marriage, per capita family income, whether childless, belief that couples could live well without a child, belief that both spouses could be responsible for infertility; For wives: age, education level, age at marriage, per capita income, whether childless, the belief that couples could live well without a child, belief that both spouses are responsible for infertility, the belief that infertility could be due to husband's problems): Univariately non-significant, NS: Univariately but not multivariately significant.

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