The Determinants of depression and anxiety in Turkish infertility patients: social support, sex role orientation, infertility causality, and selesteem

Abstract

The present study investigated the effects of social support, self-esteem, infertility causality,and sex role orientation on anxiety and depression in Turkish female infertility patients.Additional aims of the study were to to understand whether depression and anxiety could be attributable to infertility and also provide an empirical description of the infertility patients.Subject sample consisted of 100 female infertility patients and 39 female patients withgastrointestinal problems (control group) who applied to a hospital for treatment. The BeckDepression Inventory (BDI), the State/Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), the Social Support Scale, the Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory (CSSEI), and the Bem Sex Role Inventory(BSRI) were administered. Findings revealed that infertility patients had significantly higherdepression and state anxiety symptoms in comparison to patients with gastrointestinalproblems. Moreover, not having a current job and a prolonged treatment duration were found to be as risk factors for depressive symptoms on the part of the infertility patients. Socialsupport was found to be as a determining factor for depression, state and trait anxiety, in that,the infertility patients with low levels of social support had significantly higher levels ofdepression, state and trait anxiety symptoms. Analyses also indicated that, those who had low levels of self-esteem had increased levels of depression and trait-anxiety symptoms. Infertilitycausality was found to be affecting only depression, in that infertile subjects with female typeof infertility causality had higher levels of depressive symptoms.