Family and Friends

Why do some couples talk about their infertility, but others do not? Interestingly, a recent study found that couples who are experiencing fertility problems adjust how much information they share with friends and family depending on whether it’s the wife or husband who feels stigmatized about their trouble getting pregnant.

Researchers at the University of Iowa and Penn State University surveyed 50 heterosexual married couples on the East Coast who had been coping with infertility for eight months to five years and asked them questions about medical and financial aspects of their infertility, their relationship and their feelings about the experience. The couples identified five support people in their lives — three who provided support to both of them, and two who were closer to one member of the couple. Researchers then analyzed how much was shared with whom, as well as the reasons behind the decisions.

“In this study, ‘stigma’ was represented by two components — personalized stigma and disclosure concerns,” says study author Keli Ryan Steuber, assistant professor of communication studies in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “Personalized stigma represented personal fears or experiences of the infertile individual, and disclosure concerns represented the act of protecting their infertility status or compartmentalizing who has access to knowledge about their infertility.”