Increased anxiety and depression in greek infertile women results from feelings of marital stress and poor marital communication

Abstract

Background: A range of psychosocial variables may influence infertile women’s stress during infertility treatment. Variables such as satisfaction with marital relationship, satisfaction with spousal communication and satisfaction with communication with other people may be considered determinants of emotional well being. Purpose: The purposes of the present study were to examine a) the association between marital satisfaction and distress, b) the association between communication with partner and distress, and finally c) the association between communication with other people and distress. Materials and Methods: The study involved 404 women undergoing infertility treatment in a public clinic of Athens. State and trait anxiety (STAI), depression (CES-D), marital stress, marital benefit, communication with partner and communication with other people (COMPI) were measured. Statistical analysis (t-test, chi-square, One-way ANOVA) was performed by SPSS version 17.0 Results: High marital stress and poor communication with partner were positively and significantly associated with state anxiety (r= 0.291, pource of support for men and women who are reluctant to discuss their fertility difficulties with others.