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The present research was carried out to investigate and compare the degree of marital discord or dissatisfaction experienced by infertile and fertile couples. A sample of 400 couples was taken from different cities of Pakistan. Index of Marital Satisfaction (Hudson, 1982) was used to assess the marital discord. Results indicated that infertile couples have higher marital discord as compared to fertile couples. Findings suggested that infertile women have more marital discord when compared to infertile men. The data also provided evidence that age or income level did do not play any important role in deterioration of marital disturbances in infertile couples; while the differences were found significant for the factors of family system, locations, and education. The research also explored the effects of male-factor infertility and its impact on marital satisfaction.
Keywords: Marital discord, infertility, motherhood mandate, malefactor infertility, female-factor infertility
Marital discord refers to a state of disagreement and a lack of harmony, a dispute in the form of heated debate or quarreling, difference of opinion that disrupts unity within a couple (Dictionary of the English Language, 2009). Marital discordant couples are often caught up in a cycle of mutual vilification, polarization, and feelings of being trapped. They are prone to highlight their differences rather than downplaying it. They view these differences as indications of stable, global, and blameworthy deficits or failings in the partner (Fincham & Bradbury, 1993).
Many factors have been linked to marital discord in couples. Plechaty et al. (1996) found that the domains of spouses' personality, lack of communication, autonomy, relatedness, and the absence of children were the major influences on marital discord. Marital discord increases with the onset of the child-rearing years, and particularly when the couple is diagnosed with the problem of infertility (Shapiro, Palmer, & Capute, 2003). Infertility, or the inability to conceive, or carry to live birth a pregnancy after one year of regular sexual relations without the use of contraceptives, affects the marital satisfaction in infertile couples (Ulbrich, Coyle, & Llabre, 1990). When a couple discovers that they may not be capable of having biological children, it is stressful, unexpected, and often a life changing experience (Okonufua, 1997). As a result, infertile couples often find themselves with relatively low problem solving efficacy and...