Parenthood motivation scale: psychometric properties of Turkish version and comparison between fertile and infertile women

ABSTRACT

Compared to natural conception, being a parent via assisted reproductive techniques (ART) may have some unique characteristics and motivational bases. In this study, Turkish adaptation of the Parenthood Motivation Scale (PMS) was conducted. The factor structure and psychometric properties of the scale were examined with a sample of pregnant women (N = 457) who conceived naturally (n = 272) or via ART (n = 185). Like the original scale, findings demonstrated a six-factor structure (i.e. continuity, nurturance, relationship, identity, social pressure, and materialism) and it is a reliable measure. The two groups of expectant mothers were compared to investigate whether the scale successfully differentiates them in terms of bases of parenthood motivation. After controlling for the effects of covariates, multivariate analysis of covariance revealed that PMS successfully differentiates the women with different conception types. The participants who were impregnated via ART had significantly higher motivations in terms of identity and social pressure dimensions, and overall parenthood motivation. These findings might be associated with the collectivist nature of Turkish culture and emphasized the importance of working on these external bases of parenthood motivations to reduce infertile women’s stress concerning having children.

KEYWORDS:

• Assisted reproduction
• confirmatory factor analysis
• infertility
• parenthood motivation
• pregnancy psychology
• scale adaptation

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Prof. Dr. Timur Gürgan and Gürgan Clinic team for their support in accessing participants.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Availability of data

Data available on request due to privacy/ethical restrictions. The data are not publicly available since they contain information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.

Ethics approval

All procedures performed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional ethics committee. Ethical approval was obtained from Middle East Technical University, Human Subjects Ethics Committee (Protocol Number: 2015-SOS-160).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/03630242.2022.2096752

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.