Relation of Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms with Perceived Social Support According to Gender Within Infertile Couples

Relation of anxiety and depressive symptoms with perceived social support according to gender within infertile couples Objective: Evaluation of infertile couples’ emotional symptoms and perceived social supports according to gender differences. Method: Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) were administered to 66 primarily infertile couples that did not have psychiatric Axis-I disorders according to DSM-IV. Results: According to the scale’s average points, the samples’ depressive symptom levels did not indicate clinical depression; rather, anxiety levels were in normal ranges. Comparing participants’ anxiety according to gender, female participants were more anxious than male participants. Couples reported less anxiety and depression as long as they perceived higher social support. It was found that the combined infertility group, in which both women and men have problems to conceive, had more perceived social support from significant other and friends than in the female-originated infertility group. Also, results revealed that the male-originated infertility group reported more perceived social support from significant other compared to the female-originated infertility group. Conclusion: Social support and emotional stress of females in infertile couples are more than males’, and perceived sufficient social support decreases couples’ emotional symptoms.