Association of socio-personal factors with the defense mechanisms used by infertile women

Abstract

Parenting is viewed by most of the couples as their central role in life, and the thought of not achieving it can be very upsetting. Infertility is a stressor that often taxes a couple’s personal and relational resources such that defense mechanisms are a natural outgrowth of the experience. Social and personal factors play a huge role in an individuals’ life and studying their association with the defense mechanisms can help to gain a deeper understanding of infertility experience of women. The present study is an attempt to explore the association between socio-personal factors and defense mechanisms used by rural and urban infertile women of Ludhiana district. The study was based on a sample of 180 infertile women (90 rural and 90 urban). Socio-personal profile was assessed by using self-structured Interview Schedule. Defense mechanisms were explored by using Defense Mechanisms Inventory by Mrinal and Singhal (1984). Results revealed that there is a non-significant difference in the use of defense mechanisms as per the socio-economic strata of the respondents. It was also revealed that socio-personal factors like duration of infertility and educational qualification are significantly associated (p<0.01) with principalization and the defense turning against self is significantly associated with family type and working status of the respondents.