Investigating university students’ attitudes towards infertility in terms of socio-demographic variables

Authors

  • Diğdem Müge Siyez Dokuz Eylul University
  • Seçil Seymenler Manisa Celal Bayar University
  • Yelda Kağnıcı Ege University
  • Erol Esen Manisa Celal Bayar University
  • Ender Siyez Urology Clinic, Buca Seyfi Demirsoy State Hospital
  • Bahar Baran Dokuz Eylul University

Keywords:

infertility, attitudes, university students, prevention

Abstract

Background

Despite the development of medical interventions, being infertile is still deemed a shameful and humiliating experience and perceived as a failure. The aim of the study was to investigate university students’ attitudes towards infertility in terms of socio-demographic variables and risky behaviors in Turkey.

Participants and procedure

It was a cross-sectional study with a self-administered scale. A total of 9693 university students (5002 female, 4691 male) from 12 statistical regions of Turkey participated in the study.

Results

According to the findings of the study, 26.99% of the Turkish university students believed that lives of couples without a child are incomplete, 49.00% stated that they would not marry again if their partner was infertile, and 70.05% did not agree that women who do not have a child are faulty. Like the limited studies done before, male students reported more negative attitudes towards infertility than female students. Students who received sexual health education and knew someone infertile in their social network had more positive attitudes.

Conclusions

The results of the study indicated that university students’ attitudes towards infertility are relatively positive. Gender differences in attitudes towards infertility indicate that psycho-education programs about infertility including gender role issues can be developed and applied for Turkish university students.

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Published

2018-12-10

How to Cite

Siyez, D. M., Seymenler, S., Kağnıcı, Y., Esen, E., Siyez, E., & Baran, B. (2018). Investigating university students’ attitudes towards infertility in terms of socio-demographic variables. Health Psychology Report, 6(4), 351–360. Retrieved from https://czasopisma.bg.ug.edu.pl/index.php/HPR/article/view/8649

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