Disordered Eating, Psychological Distress and Subjective Happiness in Infertile Women: The Mediating Role of Meaning Based Coping

Abstract

The study aimed to examine the relationship between Disordered Eating, Distress, Coping, and Subjective happiness of infertile women. Disordered eating and infertility specific distress are complex behavioral and psychological conditions that has negative impact on subjective happiness. The 274 infertile women from Lahore and Faisalabad were included in the present study through the purposive sampling technique. The Disordered Eating Behavior Scale (DEBS; Muazzam & Khalid, 2011) Emotional and Social Distress Scale (ESDS; Naz et al., 2022), Infertility Specific Coping Scale (Schmidt et al., 2006) and Subjective Happiness Scale (Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999) were used to assess the responses of the participants. The results revealed a significant positive relationship of disordered eating with distress, and negative relationship with meaning based coping and subjective happiness. Moreover, the study revealed that disordered eating and distress were the predictors of meaning based coping and all three variables were predictors of subjective happiness. Furthermore, meaning based coping partially mediates the relationship between disordered eating, distress and subjective happiness. Findings revealed that there were significant mean differences on disordered eating, distress, coping and subjective happiness in terms of type of infertility. The findings of this study can have practical implications in the field of reproductive health and clinical psychology. Healthcare professionals and psychologists can use the insights to develop targeted interventions for infertile women, addressing disordered eating patterns, psychological distress and fostering coping strategies as well as subjective happiness.