A Secondary Analysis of a Cross-Sectional Study to Examine Factors Associated with Marital Benefit Among U.S. Women with Infertility

Infertility in women causes profound psychological distress and may affect the coupled relationship. Few studies have considered the strengthening of the relationship, or marital benefit, of women with infertility. This study sought to investigate factors associated with marital benefit, such as infertility-related stress, partner communication, sexual satisfaction, coping strategies, and quality of life satisfaction. We used a descriptive cross-sectional study design to recruit 197 U.S. women with infertility who were undergoing fertility treatments from infertility-related Facebook support groups to complete an online survey. We used SPSS 28 to conduct descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, and multiple linear regression. Partner communication, sexual satisfaction, primary infertility, meaning-based coping, marital stress, quality of life satisfaction, and attending a support group were significantly associated with marital benefit. The multiple linear regression model accounted for 43% of the variance in marital benefit, and six variables had a significant relationship with marital benefit: meaning-based coping (<i>p</i> <.001), marital stress (<i>p</i> = .003), partner communication (<i>p</i> <.003), primary infertility (<i>p</i> = .014), active-avoidance coping (<i>p</i> = .020), and attending a support group (<i>p</i> = .006). Interventions to decrease marital stress and improve coping and partner communication could be beneficial to facilitating marital benefit in women with infertility.