Long-term health, well-being, life satisfaction, and attitudes toward parenthood in men diagnosed as infertile: challenges to gender stereotypes and implications for practice.

OBJECTIVE To investigate attitudes toward parenthood, long-term life satisfaction, and health and well-being in men diagnosed as infertile. DESIGN A cross-sectional survey of a cohort of men 5 years after diagnosis of infertility. SETTING The andrology clinic at the Royal Women's Hospital Reproductive Services, Melbourne Australia. PATIENT(S) All men diagnosed at this center as infertile in 2001 and 2002. INTERVENTION(S) None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S) Attitudes to parenthood (Meaning of Parenthood), quality of intimate relationship (Intimate Bonds Measure), personality characteristics (Vulnerable Personality Style Questionnaire), life satisfaction (Satisfaction with Life Scale), and self-rated physical health (Physical Component Summary of SF-12 [PCS-12]) and relationship with mental health (Mental Component Summary of SF12 [MCS-12]). RESULT(S) A total of 112 (41%) of 276 men completed the survey. Of these, 96% had pursued infertility treatment and 87% had become fathers. Only 10% thought that fertility confirmed by fatherhood reflected masculinity, and 84% desired parenthood as much as their partners did. When all other factors were controlled for, men who had not become fathers had poorer mental health (MCS-12 score = 43.9 +/- 9.9) than those who were fathers (MCS-12 score = 49.25 +/- 8.7). CONCLUSION(S) Clinical practice should not presume that infertile men conflate fertility and masculinity, are less distressed than women about the potential loss of parenthood, or adjust more readily to childlessness, which appear to be inaccurate but widespread stereotypes.

[1]  K. Punch.  Survey Research: The Basics , 2003 .

[2]  Sandra Coney,et al.  Assisted reproduction technology in New Zealand , 1994, The Lancet.

[3]  T. Revenson,et al.  Gender Differences in Coping with Infertility: A Meta-Analysis , 1999, Journal of Behavioral Medicine.

[4]  T. Tjørnhøj‐Thomsen,et al.  High ratings of satisfaction with fertility treatment are common: findings from the Copenhagen Multi-centre Psychosocial Infertility (COMPI) Research Programme. , 2003, Human reproduction.

[5]  M. C. Inhorn,et al.  Gender, Masculinity, and Reproduction: Anthropological Perspectives , 2003 .

[6]  L. Dye,et al.  Differential coping in fertile and sub-fertile males attending an assisted conception unit: A pilot study , 1999 .

[7]  N. Talley,et al.  The development of a brief personality scale to measure vulnerability to postnatal depression , 2001, Archives of Women's Mental Health.

[8]  M. Sharpe,et al.  Distress and concerns in couples referred to a specialist infertility clinic. , 2003, Journal of psychosomatic research.

[9]  J. Daniluk,et al.  Long‐Term Adjustment of Infertile Couples Following Unsuccessful Medical Intervention , 2007 .

[10]  K. Wilhelm,et al.  The development of a measure of intimate bonds , 1988, Psychological Medicine.

[11]  K. Hammarberg.  The experience of birth and early mothering after assisted conception , 2006 .

[12]  A. Möller,et al.  The psychological influence of gender infertility diagnoses among men about to start IVF or ICSI treatment using their own sperm. , 2007, Human reproduction.

[13]  J. Boivin,et al.  Patterns of suffering and social interactions in infertile men: 12 months after unsuccessful treatment , 2007, Journal of psychosomatic obstetrics and gynaecology.

[14]  K. Ribisl,et al.  Minimizing participant attrition in panel studies through the use of effective retention and tracking strategies: Review and recommendations , 1996 .

[15]  F. Kraaimaat,et al.  A longitudinal, prospective study on emotional adjustment before, during and after consecutive fertility treatment cycles. , 2005, Human reproduction.

[16]  R. Cook,et al.  The relationship between sex role and emotional functioning in patients undergoing assisted conception. , 1993, Journal of psychosomatic obstetrics and gynaecology.

[17]  J. Astbury,et al.  Women's experience of IVF: a follow-up study. , 2001, Human reproduction.

[18]  A. Greil,et al.  INFERTILITY: , 1988 .

[19]  R. Edelmann,et al.  The meaning of parenthood and couples' reactions to male infertility. , 1994, The British journal of medical psychology.

[20]  P. Sheeran,et al.  Understanding the reasons for parenthood , 2005 .

[21]  R. Nachtigall,et al.  The effects of gender-specific diagnosis on men's and women's response to infertility. , 1992, Fertility and sterility.

[22]  D. Kretser,et al.  Male infertility: the case for continued research , 2001, The Medical journal of Australia.

[23]  J. Ware,et al.  A 12-Item Short-Form Health Survey: construction of scales and preliminary tests of reliability and validity. , 1996, Medical care.

[24]  R. Edelmann,et al.  Correlates of psychological distress in relation to male infertility , 1998 .

[25]  W. Krause,et al.  The impact of treatment experiences on the course of infertility distress in male patients. , 2005, Human reproduction.

[26]  Diana S. Natalicio,et al.  The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory , 1971 .

[27]  E. Sullivan,et al.  Assisted reproductive technology in Australia and New Zealand 2007 , 2009 .

[28]  E. Diener,et al.  Review of the Satisfaction with Life Scale , 1993 .

[29]  K. Connolly,et al.  Gender differences in response to infertility and infertility investigations : Real or illusory , 2000 .

[30]  C. Brown,et al.  The experiences of couples who have had infertility treatment in the United Kingdom: results of a survey performed in 1997. , 1999, Human reproduction.

[31]  K. Henwood,et al.  The 'good father': reading men's accounts of paternal involvement during the transition to first-time fatherhood. , 2003, The British journal of social psychology.

[32]  M. Beutel,et al.  The 'wish to have a child', childlessness and infertility in Germany. , 2005, Human reproduction.

[33]  R. Larsen,et al.  The Satisfaction with Life Scale , 1985, Journal of personality assessment.