The role of gender and self-esteem as moderators of the relationship between stigma and psychological distress among infertile couples
Mei Lan Fang, Guopeng Li, Xiaofei Kang, Fangyan Hou, Gaorong Lv, Xiaofang Xu, Linghua Kong, Ping Li
Abstract
To determine if perceived stigma is positively associated with psychological distress, and examine if self-esteem has a moderating effect on the relationship between stigma and psychological distress among infertile Chinese couples. 369 infertile couples completed questionnaires including socio-demographic and clinical characteristics, stigma, self-esteem, and psychological distress. Stigma had a significant, positive association with psychological distress (r = 0.461, P < 0.01). Self-esteem moderated the association between stigma and psychological distress differently for men compared to women. Stigma had a positive, moderate association with psychological distress in men with high self-esteem compared to men with low self-esteem (t = 3.232, P < 0.01). However, there was no significant difference in the relationship between stigma and psychological distress between women with high and low self-esteem, tests of the simple slopes showed that non-significant difference of slopes between the two groups (t = -0.017, P = 0.987). The results indicate that self-esteem buffers the net effect of stigma on psychological distress in men but not women. Future research should focus on interventions that use self-esteem as a way to decrease the negative association of stigma with psychological distress, especially among men who are infertile and have low self-esteem.