Investigating university students’ attitudes towards infertility in terms of socio-demographic variables

Abstract

BackgroundDespite the development of medical interventions, being infertile is still deemed a shameful and humiliating experience and perceived as a failure. The aim of the study was to investigate university students’ attitudes towards infertility in terms of socio-demographic variables and risky behaviors in Turkey.Participants and procedureIt was a cross-sectional study with a self-administered scale. A total of 9693 university students (5002 female, 4691 male) from 12 statistical regions of Turkey participated in the study.ResultsAccording to the findings of the study, 26.99% of the Turkish university students believed that lives of couples without a child are incomplete, 49.00% stated that they would not marry again if their partner was infertile, and 70.05% did not agree that women who do not have a child are faulty. Like the limited studies done before, male students reported more negative attitudes towards infertility than female students. Students who received sexual health education and knew someone infertile in their social network had more positive attitudes.ConclusionsThe results of the study indicated that university students’ attitudes towards infertility are relatively positive. Gender differences in attitudes towards infertility indicate that psycho-education programs about infertility including gender role issues can be developed and applied for Turkish university students.