Moderating Role of Psychological Flexibility in the Relationship Between Intolerance of Uncertainty and Perceived Stress Among Women Undergoing in Vitro Fertilization Treatment

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to examine the moderating role of psychological flexibility (PF) in the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and perceived stress (PS) among women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment. METHODS: This study used purposive sampling and included 204 participants. The measurement instruments were the Intolerance of Ambiguity Scale (IUS-12) developed by Carleton and colleagues (2007) for assessing IU, the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) developed by Cohen and colleagues (1983) for evaluating PS, and the Multidimensional Psychological Flexibility Inventory (MPFI-60) developed by Rolffs and colleagues (2018) for assessing PF. A covariance-based structural equation modeling using AMOS (version 24) software to test the direct relationships and multi-group analysis was conducted to assess moderation effects of PF. FINDING: The findings indicated that IU and Psychological Inflexibility (PI) positively predicted PS (β = 0.16, p < 0.001), while PF negatively predicted it (β = -0.14, p < 0.001). Multi-group analysis revealed that in the low PF group, the association between IU and PS was significant, positive, and greater (β = 0.28, p < 0.001) than in the high PF group (β = 0.06, p = 0.13). CONCLUSION: Both variables, namely IU and PI, contribute to increased PS; however, PF moderates this relationship, indicating a protective role of PF in reducing PS among women undergoing IVF treatment.