Marital Commitment and Relationship Quality in Fertile and Infertile Couples

Abstract

Aims Infertility is among the main problems in a marriage. It is associated with various psychological consequences, including the inability to establish a quality couple relationship as well as an unstable marital commitment. The present study aimed to investigate marital commitment and the relationship quality in fertile and infertile couples in 2016-2017. Methods & Materials This was an analytical cohort study. The statistical population consisted of all couples admitting to Sarem subspecialty Hospital in 2016. Two hundred people (96 infertile, 104 fertile) have been randomly selected as the samples. The completed the marital commitment and the relation to quality scales. After checking the normality of the data, the statistical analysis was performed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient, Student t-test, and Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA). Findings The obtained data revealed a significant positive association between marital commitment and relationship quality in fertile and infertile couples (r=0.27 and r=0.18, respectively) (P<0.05). However, this association was stronger in the fertile couples, compared with the infertile ones (relationship quality and marital commitment: P<0.0121 and P<0.0416, respectively). Moreover, the Student t-test and MANOVA results indicated significant differences in relationship quality and marital commitment between the two groups (P<0.0001 and P<0.002, respectively). Conclusion Infertility reduces couples’ commitment and negatively affects the quality of their relationships.