Infertility-Related Stress and Life Satisfaction among Chinese Infertile Women: A Moderated Mediation Model of Marital Satisfaction and Resilience

Abstract

The present study investigated the effects of infertility on Chinese women’s life satisfaction. Infertile women (n = 466) who were seeking medical help completed a survey that included the Fertility Problem Inventory (FPI), the Dyadic Adjustment Questionnaire (DAS), the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), the Satisfaction with Life Scale, and demographic variables. We used a moderated mediation model to test our hypotheses, with life satisfaction as the dependent variable, representations about the importance of parenthood as the independent variable, the impact of infertility on life domains as a mediator, and marital satisfaction and resilience as moderators. Results showed that representations about the importance of parenthood and the impact of infertility on life domains are two main types of infertility-related stress, which could play independent roles in predicting life satisfaction. Representations about the importance of parenthood had a negative indirect effect on life satisfaction through the impact of infertility on life domains, and the indirect effect of the impact of infertility on life domains was moderated by marital satisfaction and resilience. Specially, representations about the importance of parenthood had a weaker indirect effect (through the impact of infertility on life domains) on life satisfaction in individuals with higher marital satisfaction or resilience. Therefore, the type of infertility-related stress and both marital satisfaction and resilience should be addressed in psychological interventions for women coping with infertility in mainland China.