The Relationship between Perceived Stress and Marital Satisfaction in Couples with Infertility: Actor-Partner Interdependence Model

International Journal of Fertility and Sterility

Mostafa Hosseini¹  Abbas Rahimi Foroushani¹  Saman Maroufizadeh¹  Payam Amini²  Reza Omani-Samani² 

[1] Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran;Department of Epidemiology and Reproductive Health, Reproductive Epidemiology Research Center, Royan Institutefor Reproductive Biomedicine, ACECR, Tehran, Iran;

关键词: actor;    partner interdependence model;    infertility;    marital satisfaction;    stress;   

DOI  :  10.22074/ijfs.2019.5437

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundInfertility, one of life’s great stressors, may adversely affect marital satisfaction. No studies have in-vestigated the relationship between perceived stress and marital satisfaction at the dyadic level. The current studyassessed the actor and partner effects of perceived stress on marital satisfaction in husband-wife dyads using an in-novative dyadic analysis approach, the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM).Materials and MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, we recruited a total of 141 infertile couples. Marital satisfac-tion and stress were assessed using the ENRICH Marital Satisfaction Scale (EMS Scale) and Perceived Stress Scale-4Item (PSS-4), respectively. Dyadic data have been analysed by the APIM approach, with distinguishable dyads. In thisapproach, actor effect is the impact of a person᾽s perceived stress on his/her own marital satisfaction. Partner effect isthe impact of a person's perceived stress on the partner᾽s marital satisfaction.ResultsBoth men and women’s perceived stress exhibited an actor effect on their marital satisfaction (β=-0.312,P < 0.001, β=-0.405, P < 0.001, respectively). Women’s perceived stress had a negative relationship to the marital satis-faction of their partner (β=-0.174, P=0.040). Although the partner effect of men’s perceived stress on woman’s maritalsatisfaction was not significant (β=-0.138, P=0.096), women whose husbands had higher levels of stress were morelikely to have poorer marital satisfaction. Both actor and partner effects of perceived stress on marital satisfaction weresimilar among men and their wives.ConclusionThe findings of this study have highlighted that marital satisfaction in patients with infertility was in-fluenced by not only their own perceived stress, but also their spouses’ perceived stresses. Therefore, psychologicalinterventions that target a reduction in perceived stress and enhancement of marital satisfaction in the context of infer-tility should treat the couple as a unit.

【 授权许可】

Unknown