Human Reproduction, Vol. 16, No. 8, 1753-1761,
August 2001
© 2001 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology
Psychosocial characteristics of infertile couples: a study by the `Heidelberg Fertility Consultation Service'*
1 Department of Medical Psychology, Psychosomatic Hospital and 2 Department of Gynaecological Endocrinology and Reproductive Medicine, Women's Hospital, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to identify differences in psychological characteristics between couples with fertility disorders, especially idiopathic infertility, and a representative sample. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 564 couples was examined using psychological questionnaires pertaining to sociodemographic factors, motives for wanting a child, dimensions of life satisfaction and couple relationships, physical and psychic complaints, and a personality inventory. RESULTS: Specific to our sample was the high educational level of the couples, and the large number with idiopathic infertility (27% of all diagnoses). There were no remarkable differences in psychological variables between the infertile couples and a representative sample, except that the infertile women showed higher scores on the depression and anxiety scales. Couples with idiopathic infertility showed no remarkable differences in the questionnaire variables compared with couples with other medical diagnoses of infertility. CONCLUSIONS: A typical psychological profile for infertile couples could not be identified using standardized psychometric rating methods. This may be an effect of the specific characteristics of our sample. For some couples, the infertility crisis can be seen as a cumulative trauma, which indicates that these couples have a marked need for infertility counselling.
Key words: idiopathic infertility/infertility/life satisfaction/negative life events/psychosocial factors
3 To whom correspondence should be addressed at: Department of Medical Psychology, Psychosomatic Hospital, University of Heidelberg, Bergheimer Straße 20, D-69115 Heidelberg, Germany. E-mail: tewes_wischmann{at}med.uni-heidelberg.de
* Presented in part at the 14th Annual Meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, Göteborg, Sweden, June 21-24, 1998
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