Exposure to Violence as a Predictor of Adaptive and Maladaptive Emotion Regulation Strategies among Women with Infertility

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21868947

P. Sherin and M. Vinothkumar (Department of Psychology, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu)

One of the serious reproductive medical conditions, infertility, has profound impacts on couples’ physical and psychological well-being. There are millions of individuals across the world suffering from this condition. Keeping aside its clinical implications, infertility carries significant emotional, social, and financial challenges. Infertility is a shared medical condition, but continues to be labelled as a woman’s failure. The current study assesses the predictive role of exposure to violence on adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies among women with infertility. A sample of 203 women aged between 19 to 47 years, who are suffering from primary or secondary infertility selected. The purposive sampling method was used to select the sample. Personal datasheets, Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ), by Garnefski et al. (2001) and the Infertile Women’s Exposure to Violence Determination Scale (IWEVDS) developed by Onat (2014) were used to collect the data. The results show that when exposed to frequent experiences of violence, infertile women reported to engage in lower adaptive emotion regulation strategies. Also, they tend to use higher levels of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies on account of repeated exposure to violence. The study further showed exposure to violence significantly negatively predicted adaptive emotion regulation strategies (b = -.230, β = -.188, t = -2.712, p = .007), accounting for 3.5% of the variance (R² = .035). Also, exposure to violence significantly and positively predicted maladaptive emotion regulation strategies (b = .364, β = .358, t = 5.432, p < .001), explaining 12.8% of the variance (R² = .128). These findings indicate that infertility is not merely a medical condition but also a psychosocial experience shaped by gendered expectations, stigma, and vulnerability to abuse.