The purpose of this study is to examine the psychological and social consequences of infertility problems for women and men. Infertility is conceptualized as a major life stress which has an impact on a variety of mental and physical health outcomes including life quality, affect, self-esteem, sexuality, performance, physical health, and fertility-related behavior. A number of psychosocial factors are hypothesized to influence the relationship between infertility and these various outcomes either by exerting moderating or main effects. For example, social support received from the spouse and others might affect the meaning of infertility to individuals and how they cope with it, thus also affecting outcomes such as life quality. This study is designed to examine these types of relationships by using standardized multi-item measures, a longitudinal design, and several analytic techniques including structural modeling (LISREL). Approximately 400 couples (800 individuals) will be interviewed three times. Three-quarters of these couples will have an infertility problem which has prompted them to seek assistance from a specialist. The other one-quarter will be couples who have visited an obstetrician/gynecologist but not for an infertility problem. This control group, which will be comparable to the infertile couples on demographic characteristics, is included for comparison purposes. Couples will be interviewed three times: (1) soon after the initial physician visit, (2) one year later -- a point at which some infertile couples should have become pregnant and most others will have a clear diagnosis, and (3) two years later -- a point at which many of the infertile couples who are likely to become pregnant will have and the rest have acknowledged to themselves that their chances are low. Interviews will be conducted by trained Survey Research Center interviewers. These data are expected to greatly increase the available knowledge about the effects of infertility on couples; this information will be made available to physicians, counselors, and infertile couples.
