Loneliness and social support in infertile couples.

OBJECTIVE To determine differences between infertile wives' and husbands' levels of loneliness and perception of social support and to determine if there is a relationship between loneliness and social support. DESIGN Comparative descriptive. SETTING University infertility clinic and RESOLVE, an infertility support group. PARTICIPANTS Convenience sample of 62 couples diagnosed as experiencing either primary or secondary infertility. OUTCOME MEASURES Loneliness was measured using the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale; social support was measured using the Interpersonal Relationship Inventory with subscales of Social Support, Reciprocity, and Conflict. RESULTS Wives were significantly more lonely than husbands (t = 2.053, p = 0.04). There was no significant group difference on the social support total score or three subscale scores. Loneliness was inversely related to social support and reciprocity both for wives (r = -0.62, p = 0.001, and r = -0.50, p = 0.002, respectively) and husbands (r = -0.74, p = 0.001, and r = -0.56, p = 0.001, respectively); loneliness correlated with conflict for wives only (r = 0.48, p = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS Although wives and husbands differed in loneliness, they were similar in perceived social support. Greater social support and reciprocity lessened feelings of loneliness for both groups. Wives who perceived increased conflict in their social relationships were more lonely.