VARIABLES INFLUENCING PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH CONDITIONS IN INFERTILE COUPLES: GENDER DIFFERENCES IN RISK AND PROTECTIVE FACTORS

Infertility is a distressing experience that may induce mood disorders, anxiety and depression. Research highlighted risk and protective factors influencing psychological health in infertile patients, but their interplay has not been considered. The present study aims to analyse main and interaction effects of Individual characteristics (Age; Educational level; Employment status), Infertility-related characteristics (Type of diagnosis; Duration of infertility), Infertility-related stress dimensions and Couple’s Dyadic Adjustment on perceived levels of Anxiety and Depression of infertile patients, also identifying gender differences. A questionnaire consisted of Sociodemographics, Infertility-related characteristics, Fertility Problem Inventory-Short Form (FPI-SF; Zurlo et al., 2017), Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS), the State scale of the STAI-Y and the Edinburgh Depression Scale (EDS) was administered to 250 couples undergoing infertility treatments. Data were analysed using Descriptive Statistics and Logistic Regression Analyses. Findings on main effects revealed: Duration of Infertility and stress dimensions of Couple’s Relationship Concern and Social Concern as significant risk factors in both genders; Male diagnosis as specific risk factor in male patients; Age, Female and Unexplained diagnosis, and stress dimensions of Need for Parenthood and Rejection of Childfree Lifestyle as specific risk factors in female patients. With respect to protective factors, data revealed significant main effects of Educational Level and Employed status only in female patients and of Couple’s Dyadic Adjustment in both genders. Interaction Analyses highlighted significant moderating effects of Employed status in female and of Couple’s Dyadic Adjustment in both genders. Findings highlighted significant risk and protective factors useful to develop focused counselling interventions to promote psychological health in both members of infertile couples.