The Relationship Among Infertility, Self-Compassion, and Well-Being for Women With Primary or Secondary Infertility

Abstract

The experience of infertility can cause distress in many women, and there is a dearth of research that addresses infertility type (i.e., primary or secondary) and strengths-based constructs, such as self-compassion. Although the prevalence of secondary infertility (i.e., experiencing infertility after having a child) is significantly greater than primary infertility (i.e., experiencing infertility without having prior children), the majority of infertility studies utilize samples of only women with primary infertility so that the voices of women with secondary infertility are largely uncaptured. The current study of 119 women experiencing primary infertility and 53 women experiencing secondary infertility explored the well-being of women with primary or secondary infertility, finding that both samples report similar levels of self-compassion, subjective well-being, and global fertility-related stress and that women with primary infertility report greater levels of fertility-related social concern. Self-compassion mediated the relation between the need for parenthood and subjective well-being for women with primary or secondary infertility. Further, self-compassion mediated the relation between social concern and subjective well-being for both groups of women, which may be especially important, given the stigmatized social identity and social isolation of those experiencing infertility. Self-compassion might serve as an emotional regulation strategy and a form of resiliency against feelings of self-blame or blame by society for infertility.