Theoretically, the most prominent consequence of infertility may be the loss of a valued social role: parenthood. Moreover, the emotional distress that may be experienced when parenthood is thwarted by infertility may reflect the subjective importance of this goal. Also, the desire to be a parent may be influenced by social forces which may affect females more than males. Thus, this investigation was guided by the question: Is the degree of importance one places on being a parent as a personal goal in one's life, and one's gender, related to emotional distress in males and females with primary infertility? / Emotional distress was indicated by scores on standardized instruments which reliably measured depression, a self-esteem problem, marital dissatisfaction, sexual dissatisfaction, and state anxiety. A new instrument, the Emotional Reaction to Childlessness Scale (ERTC), reliably measured the magnitude of a personal emotional reaction to involuntary childlessness. / Thirty-three male and 62 female members of an infertility support network, and 52 males and 65 females from medical practices returned usable questionnaires. Major findings were that close to a half of all subjects were clinically depressed and over a third were experiencing state anxiety. Moreover, there was a statistically significant but weak additive relationship between the degree of importance placed on being a parent, and gender, and depression and state anxiety scores. Overall, females had higher levels of depression and state anxiety, but support group membership accounted for most of the variance in these scores. A third of all subjects were experiencing a self-esteem problem. As having a rewarding career became more important as a personal goal, both male and female self-esteem problem scores significantly decreased. In addition, moderate to high ERTC scores were positively associated with moderate to high depression and state anxiety scores. / Implications of the results for social work practice emphasized the development of coping skills through self-regulation of cognitions and emotions. It was also recommended that additional research in this area be based on longitudinal or prospective designs rather than surveys which gather retrospective data. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-05, Section: A, page: 1883. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75817 |
| Contributors | TARTASKY, DONALD JAY., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 210 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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