Mediating role of relational aggression in the association between infertility stigma and marital relationship distress in infertile women

ABSTRACT

Infertility is a multifaceted problem that can cause significant impairments with emotional, social, and psychological consequences, including problems in the marital relationship. This study aimed to mediate the role of relational aggression in the association between infertility stigma and marital relationship distress in infertile women. The research method was descriptive and path analysis. The statistical population of the study consisted of all infertile women who were referred to infertility centers and obstetrics and gynecology medical centers in Tehran in 2021 (July to October), and due to lack of full access to them, 300 people were selected by available sampling method who participated in the research through an online questionnaire. Data were collected using the Marital Self-Reporting Questionnaire, Infertility Stigma, and Relational Aggression Questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using structural equation modeling. The results showed that the causal model of the relationship between infertility stigma, relational aggression, and marital relationship distress in infertile women was confirmed based on different fitting indices. Infertility stigma and associated aggression directly affect the marital turmoil of infertile women. On the other hand, infertility stigma indirectly affects infertile women’s marital distress through relational aggression (P < .05). Therefore, the infertility stigma and relational aggression play an important role in marital distress in infertile women, and targeting these two components in psychological therapies can effectively reduce marital chaos.

KEYWORDS:

• Infertile women
• infertility stigma
• marital distress
• relational aggression

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their gratitude to the women who participated in this study.

Disclosure statement

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

Data availability statement

Data are available per request from Sanaz Eyni at [email protected].

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This work was done individually, and in case of any ambiguity in filling out the questionnaires, the necessary instructions were given to the subject within the framework of how to implement the relevant questionnaires. In addition to ensuring the confidentiality of information and preparing people for the research sample to participate in the research was one of the ethical points of this research. Besides, standard codes of ethics in medical research include 14, 13, 2 (benefits from the findings for the advancement of human knowledge), code 20 (coordination of research with religious and cultural standards), and codes 1, 3, 24 (satisfaction Subjects and his legal representative) have been observed in this research.

The ethics committee of the University of Mohaghegh Ardabili approved all research procedures, and this study was conducted under the Declaration of Helsinki. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants. All methods were performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations.

Additional information

Funding

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