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Articles 1 - 14 of 14
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Is A Dyadic Stressor Experienced As Equally Distressing By Both Partners? The Case Of Perceived Fertility Problems, Julia Mcquillan, Arthur L. Greil, Anna Rybińska, Stacy Tiemeyer, Karina M. Shreffler, Colleen Warner Colaner
Is A Dyadic Stressor Experienced As Equally Distressing By Both Partners? The Case Of Perceived Fertility Problems, Julia Mcquillan, Arthur L. Greil, Anna Rybińska, Stacy Tiemeyer, Karina M. Shreffler, Colleen Warner Colaner
Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications
Using data from a population survey, this article explores whether perceptions of having a fertility problem among 926 U.S. couples in heterosexual relationships (women aged 25–45 and male partners) are associated with distress. Most couples did not perceive a fertility problem (58%). In almost a third (30%) of the couples, only women perceived a fertility problem; in 4%, only the men; and in nearly a fifth (19%), both perceived a problem. Adjusted for characteristics associated with fertility problems and depressive symptoms, those who perceived a problem exhibited significantly more depressive symptoms than those who did not. Fertility problems are sometimes …
Is Perceived Inability To Procreate Associated With Life Satisfaction? Evidence From A German Panel Study, Julia Mcquillan, Jasmin Passet-Wittig, Arthur L. Greil, Martin Bujard
Is Perceived Inability To Procreate Associated With Life Satisfaction? Evidence From A German Panel Study, Julia Mcquillan, Jasmin Passet-Wittig, Arthur L. Greil, Martin Bujard
Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications
Most studies of the psychosocial consequences of infertility have focused on those who seek medical treatment, leaving a research gap regarding the psychosocial consequences of perceived inability to procreate in the general population. Moreover, most studies are cross-sectional and the results are thus likely affected by omitted variable bias. Inspired by aspects of the Theory of Conjunctural Action, this study analysed 10 waves of data from the German Family Panel (pairfam) for women and men using fixed effects panel regression and including time-varying control variables suggested by theory and research. This study found that both women and men experienced lower …
Is Perception Of Inability To Procreate A Temporal Phenomenon? A Longitudinal Exploration Of Changes And Determinants Among Women And Men Of Reproductive Age In Germany, Jasmin Passet-Wittig, Martin Bujard, Julia Mcquillan, Arthur L. Greil
Is Perception Of Inability To Procreate A Temporal Phenomenon? A Longitudinal Exploration Of Changes And Determinants Among Women And Men Of Reproductive Age In Germany, Jasmin Passet-Wittig, Martin Bujard, Julia Mcquillan, Arthur L. Greil
Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications
Continued postponement of births and increasing use of reproductive medicine enhance the relevance of infertility and related perceptions for fertility research. Fertility researchers tend to assume that an existing perception of inability to procreate is a stable trait among persons of reproductive age. This assumption is questionable from a life course perspective and has not been thoroughly investigated. Therefore we investigate the prevalence, stability, and correlates of perceived inability to procreate. We apply between-within logit models to annual panel data (2008-2015) to study variation in perceived inability to procreate within individuals over time and between individuals. We find that approximately …
Relationship Satisfaction Among Infertile Couples: Implications Of Gender And Self-Identification, Arthur L. Greil, Kathleen S. Slauson-Blevins, Julia Mcquillan, Michele H. Lowry, Andrea R. Burch, Karina M. Shreffler
Relationship Satisfaction Among Infertile Couples: Implications Of Gender And Self-Identification, Arthur L. Greil, Kathleen S. Slauson-Blevins, Julia Mcquillan, Michele H. Lowry, Andrea R. Burch, Karina M. Shreffler
Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications
We use path analysis to analyze heterosexual couples from the U.S. National Survey of Fertility Barriers, a probability-based sample of women and their male partners. We restrict the sample to couples in which the women are infertile. We estimate a path model of each partner’s relationship satisfaction on indicators of self-identifying as having a fertility problem or not at the individual and couple levels. We find a gender effect: for women, but not men, relationship satisfaction was significantly higher when neither partner self-identified as having a fertility problem. Women’s relationship satisfaction exerted a strong influence on their partners’ relationship satisfaction, …
Fertility And Infertility: Toward An Integrative Research Agenda, Katherine M. Johnson, Arthur L. Greil, Karina M. Shreffler, Julia Mcquillan
Fertility And Infertility: Toward An Integrative Research Agenda, Katherine M. Johnson, Arthur L. Greil, Karina M. Shreffler, Julia Mcquillan
Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications
In this article, we show that social science research on fertility and infertility consists of largely separate research traditions, despite shared interest in pregnancies and births (or lack thereof). We describe four ways these two traditions differ: (1) publication trajectories and outlets, (2) fields of study and major theoretical frameworks, (3) degree of attention to the other topic, and (4) language and definitions used. We then discuss why future integration of these bodies of research would be beneficial, outline potential steps toward rapprochement, and provide common areas of dialogue that could facilitate and enrich these bodies of research. We offer …
“Just Because A Doctor Says Something, Doesn’T Mean That [It] Will Happen”: Self-Perception As Having A Fertility Problem Among Infertility Patients, Ophra Leyser-Whalen, Arthur L. Greil, Julia Mcquillan, Katherine M. Johnson
“Just Because A Doctor Says Something, Doesn’T Mean That [It] Will Happen”: Self-Perception As Having A Fertility Problem Among Infertility Patients, Ophra Leyser-Whalen, Arthur L. Greil, Julia Mcquillan, Katherine M. Johnson
Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications
Only some individuals who have the medically defined condition ‘infertility’ adopt a self-definition as having a fertility problem, which has implications for social and behavioral responses, yet there is no clear consensus on why some people and not others adopt a medical label. We use interview data from 28 women and men who sought medical infertility treatment to understand variations in self-identification. Results highlight the importance of identity disruption for understanding the dialectical relationship between medical contact and self-identification, as well as how diagnosis acts both as a category and a process. Simultaneously integrating new medical knowledge from testing and …
Does Fertility-Specific Distress Vary By Race/Ethnicity Among A Probability Sample Of Women In The United States?, Arthur L. Greil, Julia Mcquillan, Delida Sanchez
Does Fertility-Specific Distress Vary By Race/Ethnicity Among A Probability Sample Of Women In The United States?, Arthur L. Greil, Julia Mcquillan, Delida Sanchez
Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications
This study explored whether fertility-specific distress varied by race/ethnicity among a nationally representative sample of US women. Participants were 2363 White (n = 1266), Black (n = 569), Hispanic (n = 453), and Asian (n = 51) women who participated in the National Survey of Fertility Barriers. Participants were given the Fertility-Specific Distress Scale and assessed for strength of pregnancy intent, primary versus secondary infertility, and socioeconomic hardship. Black women reported lower levels of fertility-specific distress than White women, but these were fully mediated by the strength of pregnancy intentions. Primary versus secondary infertility and economic hardship were not associated …
Does The Reason Matter? Variations In Childlessness Concerns Among U.S. Women, Julia Mcquillan, Arthur L. Greil, Patricia Wonch Hill, Kari C. Gentzler, John D. Hathcoat
Does The Reason Matter? Variations In Childlessness Concerns Among U.S. Women, Julia Mcquillan, Arthur L. Greil, Patricia Wonch Hill, Kari C. Gentzler, John D. Hathcoat
Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications
Does the reason why women have no children matter with regard to level of childlessness concerns? Reasons include biomedical barriers, situational barriers, delaying motherhood, and choosing to be childfree. The concept of ‘‘childlessness concerns’’ captures the idea that holidays and family gatherings are difficult because of not having children or feeling left out or sad that others have children. Life course and identity theories guided the structural equation model analyses of a representative sample of 1,180 U.S. women without children from the National Survey of Fertility Barriers. The results indicated that women with the least control over pregnancy, those with …
Race-Ethnicity And Medical Services For Infertility: Stratified Reproduction In A Population-Based Sample Of U.S. Women, Arthur L. Greil, Julia Mcquillan, Karina M. Shreffler, Katherine M. Johnson, Kathleen S. Slauson-Blevins
Race-Ethnicity And Medical Services For Infertility: Stratified Reproduction In A Population-Based Sample Of U.S. Women, Arthur L. Greil, Julia Mcquillan, Karina M. Shreffler, Katherine M. Johnson, Kathleen S. Slauson-Blevins
Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications
Evidence of group differences in reproductive control and access to reproductive health care suggests the continued existence of “stratified reproduction” in the United States. Women of color are overrepresented among people with infertility but are underrepresented among those who receive medical services. The authors employ path analysis to uncover mechanisms accounting for these differences among black, Hispanic, Asian, and non-Hispanic white women using a probability-based sample of 2,162 U.S. women. Black and Hispanic women are less likely to receive services than other women. The enabling conditions of income, education, and private insurance partially mediate the relationship between race-ethnicity and receipt …
Infertility Treatment And Fertility-Specific Distress: A Longitudinal Analysis Of A Population-Based Sample Of U.S. Women, Arthur L. Greil, Julia Mcquillan, Michele Lowry, Karina M. Shreffler
Infertility Treatment And Fertility-Specific Distress: A Longitudinal Analysis Of A Population-Based Sample Of U.S. Women, Arthur L. Greil, Julia Mcquillan, Michele Lowry, Karina M. Shreffler
Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications
Because research on infertile women usually uses clinic-based samples of treatment seekers, it is difficult to sort out to what extent distress is the result of the condition of infertility itself and to what extent it is a consequence of the experience of infertility treatment. We use the National Survey of Fertility Barriers, a two-wave national probability sample of U.S. women, to disentangle the effects of infertility and infertility treatment on fertilityspecific distress. Using a series of ANOVAs, we examine 266 infertile women who experienced infertility both at Wave 1 and at Wave 2, three years later. We compare eight …
Are Prior Pregnancy Outcomes Relevant For Models Of Fertility-Specific Distress Or Infertility Helpseeking?, Arthur L. Greil, Katherine M. Johnson, Julia Mcquillan, Naomi L Lacy
Are Prior Pregnancy Outcomes Relevant For Models Of Fertility-Specific Distress Or Infertility Helpseeking?, Arthur L. Greil, Katherine M. Johnson, Julia Mcquillan, Naomi L Lacy
Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications
Women with prior pregnancy but no live birth are inconsistently termed as either ‘primary infertile’ or ‘secondary infertile’ in psychosocial studies of infertile women. The goal of this study was to discover whether infertile women who had experienced pregnancies but no live births were more similar in attitudes and behavior to infertile women who had not experienced pregnancies or to those who had live births. We used the National Survey of Fertility Barriers (NSFB), which contains self-reported data from a probability-based sample of US women aged between 25 and 45, to accomplish our goal. In this cross-sectional analysis, infertile women …
“Trying” Times: Medicalization, Intent, And Ambiguity In The Definition Of Infertility, Arthur L. Greil, Julia Mcquillan
“Trying” Times: Medicalization, Intent, And Ambiguity In The Definition Of Infertility, Arthur L. Greil, Julia Mcquillan
Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications
Researchers studying infertility from the perspective of anthropology and other the social sciences seldom examine the assumptions embedded in the biomedical definition of infertility. Implicit in the biomedical definition is the assumption that people can be divided straightforwardly into those who are trying to conceive and those who are not trying to conceive. If being infertile implies “intent to conceive,” we must recognize that there are various degrees of intent and that the line between the fertile and the infertile is not as sharp as is usually imagined. Drawing on structured interview data collected from a random sample of Midwestern …
Specifying The Effects Of Religion On Medical Helpseeking: The Case Of Infertility, Arthur L. Greil, Julia Mcquillan, Maureen Benjamins, David R. Johnson, Katherine M. Johnson, Chelsea R. Heinz
Specifying The Effects Of Religion On Medical Helpseeking: The Case Of Infertility, Arthur L. Greil, Julia Mcquillan, Maureen Benjamins, David R. Johnson, Katherine M. Johnson, Chelsea R. Heinz
Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications
Several recent studies have examined the connection between religion and medical service utilization. This relationship is complicated because religiosity may be associated with beliefs that either promote or hinder medical helpseeking. The current study uses structural equation modeling to examine the relationship between religion and fertility-related helpseeking using a probability sample of 2183 infertile women in the United States. We found that, although religiosity is not directly associated with helpseeking for infertility, it is indirectly associated through mediating variables that operate in opposing directions. More specifically, religiosity is associated with greater belief in the importance of motherhood, which in turn …
The Experience Of Infertility: A Review Of Recent Literature, Arthur L. Greil, Kathleen Slauson-Blevins, Julia Mcquillan
The Experience Of Infertility: A Review Of Recent Literature, Arthur L. Greil, Kathleen Slauson-Blevins, Julia Mcquillan
Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications
About 10 years ago Greil published a review and critique of the literature on the socio-psychological impact of infertility. He found at the time that most scholars treated infertility as a medical condition with psychological consequences rather than as a socially constructed reality. This article examines research published since the last review. More studies now place infertility within larger social contexts and social scientific frameworks although clinical emphases persist. Methodological problems remain but important improvements are also evident. We identify two vigorous research traditions in the social scientific study of infertility. One tradition uses primarily quantitative techniques to study clinic …