The Relation Between Marital Adjustment and Posttraumatic Growth in Infertile Couples: The Mediatory Role of Religious Coping Strategies

BACKGROUND Infertility as a crisis can both lead to negative reactions and stress in infertile couples and bring about positive reactions and growth, to which henceforth posttraumatic growth is referred. This study was conducted to model the relation between martial adjustment and posttraumatic growth through the mediation of religious coping strategies in infertile couples. METHODS This correlation-based study was performed on 250 couples at the infertility center of Shariati hospital, Tehran, Iran, selected via convenience sampling. They answered to the Marital Adjustment Scale, the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, and the Religious Coping Strategies Inventory. This study used Structural Equation Modeling. RESULTS The results showed significant positive relationships between marital adjustment and both positive religious coping strategies and posttraumatic growth. A significant positive relationship between positive religious coping strategies and posttraumatic growth was also detected. Positive religious coping strategies were observed to play a mediatory role between marital adjustment and posttraumatic growth. This was the case while attributing such a mediatory role to negative coping strategies was not possible. CONCLUSION Based on the results, this study can be seen as further evidence showing the necessity of focusing on the role of positive religious coping strategies in marital adjustment and posttraumatic growth in infertile couples.