The relationship between psychological coping and mood across the menstrual cycle among distressed women struggling to conceive

Abstract

ObjectivesInfertility is disproportionately associated with distress in women yet there has been limited research focusing on the relationship between coping strategies and fertility-monitoring techniques on distress in women struggling to conceive naturally. MethodsFifty-eight distressed women with infertility were recruited via social media. Every second day women's depressive and anxious mood was assessed in the morning and again in the evening along with their psychological coping strategies, the use of fertility monitoring techniques, and Fertility Quality of Life emotion subscale, over the course of one full menstrual cycle. ResultsDuring menstruation and statistically adjusting for morning depressive mood, active coping (β(SE) = −1.35 (0.36), p < .001) and behavioural engagement (β(SE) = −0.98 (0.35), p = .006) were associated with less depressive mood in the evening. Across all phases, social support seeking was associated with greater anxiety (β(SE) = 0.50 (0.20), p = .013) and lower emotional quality of life (β(SE) = −0.82 (0.32), p = .011). Use of fertility monitoring techniques was associated with heightened anxiety (M(SE) = 6.7 (0.2) vs. 5.9 (0.2), p < .001). The use of avoidance strategies (β(SE) = 3.22 (1.29), p = .016), endorsement of optimism (β(SE) = −4.72 (1.78), p = .011) and social support seeking (β(SE) = 3.09 (1.18), p = .012) throughout the cycle were significantly predictive of depression ratings following a negative pregnancy test, despite statistically adjusting for mean depression ratings throughout the menstrual cycle. ConclusionThese findings highlight a number of cognitive and behavioural strategies that could be manipulated via psychological interventions to improve distress among women struggling to conceive.