PSYCHOSOCIAL PREDICTORS OF LIFE QUALITY - HOW ARE THEY AFFECTED BY INFERTILITY, GENDER, AND PARENTHOOD

A longitudinal study was conducted to examine the effects of infertili ty on marital and global life quality with wives and husbands from 174 in fertile couples and a comparison group of 74 fertile couples. By t he third interview, 42% of the infertile couples and 36% of the fertil e couples were parents. Bivariate correlations and multiple regression analyses were completed. The psychosocial predictors of life quality were highly similar for member, of infertile and fertile couples and f or couples with and without children. In multivariate analyses,being a parent was associated with increased global life quality for infertil e women and diminished marital fife quality for everyone except fertil e men. These results replicate and extend past research.