Posttraumatic Growth as a Buffer: Linking Disordered Eating, Psychological Distress to Subjective Happiness in Women with Infertility

Abstract

Infertility is a challenging situation for women with infertility on psychological, social, and physical levels. Infertility also creates a hindrance in positive psychological growth and subjective happiness of infertile individuals. The current study was designed to explore the relationship between Psychological Distress, Posttraumatic Growth, and Subjective Happiness among women with infertility. A correlational design was followed to collect the data. The total number of 274 sample was recruited through purposive sampling method from Lahore and Faisalabad cities. The Disordered Eating Behavior Scale (DEBS), Emotional and Social Distress Scale, Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, and Subjective Happiness Scale were used to collect the responses. The results indicated that Psychological Distress had a significant negative correlation with Posttraumatic Growth and Subjective Happiness, while the positive correlation was found between Posttraumatic Growth and Subjective Happiness. The significant predictors of subjective happiness among women with infertility were distress and PTG. Moreover, the study found that PTG is a partially mediates the relationship between distress and subjective happiness. The significant difference was found in emotional and social distress in terms of duration of marriage. The implications of the present study could be significant in the domain of reproductive health and well-being. The practical implications could be derived by the professionals and psychologists while designing disease-specific interventions for women with infertility.