Behavioral Defensive Mechanism in Infertile Couples

Precise information related to behavioral patterns of infertile couples are limited. Therefore, the aim of this study is the assessing the behavioral issues in infertile couples in Iran. In this cross-sectional study, 680 individuals (infertile couples who married at least one year and received primary or secondary infertility diagnosis) who referred to five public and seven private and semi-private centers of infertility across the country were assessed by using non-probability sampling of available individuals. Data collection tool is researcher-made questionnaires to determine the defense mechanism of individuals to cope with infertility and consisted of 21 questions with five Likert scale. Standard score range was from zero to 100 which higher score was developed defense mechanism. Average age in all provinces was generally 30 years (20-40 years) for women and 34 years (22-50 years) for men. A total of 325(48.1%) of women and 419 (65.7%) of men had developed a mature defense mechanism and men were slightly more developed than women in defense mechanism.(P<0.001). Regression coefficients analysis showed the most important factor influencing man’s defense mechanism score is his educational level.(p=0.008). Increased men's education lead to increased mature defense mechanism score in infertile individuals and will make this attitude more developed.