PSYCHOSOCIAL PREDICTORS OF LIFE QUALITY - HOW ARE THEY AFFECTED BY INFERTILITY, GENDER, AND PARENTHOOD

A longitudinal study was conducted to examine the effects of infertility on marital and global life quality with wives and husbands from 174 in fertile couples and a comparison group of 74 fertile couples. By the third interview, 42% of the infertile couples and 36% of the fertile couples were parents. Bivariate correlations and multiple regression analyses were completed. The psychosocial predictors of life quality were highly similar for member, of infertile and fertile couples and for couples with and without children. In multivariate analyses,being a parent was associated with increased global life quality for infertile women and diminished marital fife quality for everyone except fertile men. These results replicate and extend past research.