The predicament of masculinity: Towards understanding the male's experience of infertility treatments

Carmeli, Yoram S.; Birenbaum‐Carmeli, Daphna

doi:10.1007/bf01544669

Cited by 69 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Van Balen, Trimbos-Kemper, and Verdurmen (1996) reported that spouses may be inclined to protect each other from the stigma related to infertility, especially pertaining to male-factor infertility. Research suggests that men perceive infertility to be more socially acceptable for women than for men (Rowland, 1985) and hold the view that women would receive social support to help cope with the diagnosis, whereas they would be socially ridiculed (Carmeli & Birenbaum-Carmeli, 1994). These findings suggest that people may perceive the revelation of their infertility diagnosis or their treatment decisions as potentially risky, with specific concern about themselves and their partner being stigmatized.…”

Section: Riskmentioning

confidence: 76%

Factors that Predict Married Partners' Disclosures about Infertility to Social Network Members

Steuber¹,

Solomon

2011

Journal of Applied Communication Research

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This study draws upon the revelation risk model and the disclosure decision-making model to deduce hypotheses linking perceived stigma, communication efficacy, and relational closeness to married partners' tendencies to disclose information about their infertility experiences to members of the couple's social network. Data from 50 couples reporting on disclosures to a total of 250 social network members were analyzed using multilevel modeling. Results indicated that aspects of stigma, communication efficacy, and closeness impact infertility-related disclosures. The discussion highlights how the application of these theories sheds light on the multiple factors that influence the extent to which husbands and wives engage their social network when coping with infertility.

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Section: Riskmentioning

confidence: 76%

Factors that Predict Married Partners' Disclosures about Infertility to Social Network Members

Steuber¹,

Solomon

2011

Journal of Applied Communication Research

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“…Therefore it is useful to review relevant infertility research to frame our study of the importance of fatherhood in men's lives. This literature suggests that infertility is stressful for men (Carmeli & Birenbaum-Carmeli, 1994;Peronace, Boivin, & Schmidt, 2007) and can often lead to grief about not producing offspring, a loss of a sense of masculinity, and a sense of personal inadequacy (Webb & Daniluk, 1999). Other work implies that men see the failure to achieve fatherhood as a threat to masculinity because of their inability to reproduce (Beutel et al, 1998;Greil, 1991;Hjelmstedt et al, 1999).…”

Section: Understanding the Importance Of Fatherhood For Non-fathers: mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Importance of Fatherhood to U.S. Married and Cohabiting Men

Tichenor¹,

McQuillan²,

Greil³

et al. 2011

Fathering: A Journal of Theory, Research, and Practice about Me

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“…First, men with male factor infertility are proposed to suffer more compared to men with other infertility diagnoses [1][2][3][4]. Second, male factor infertility is proposed to have such a social stigma that it produces much negative social stress, and a culture of secrecy and protectiveness to the extent that women sometimes even take the blame for the couple's childlessness [5][6][7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of suffering and social interactions in infertile men: 12 months after unsuccessful treatment

Peronace

Boivin

Schmidt

2007

Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics & Gynecology

110

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Research shows that men diagnosed with male factor infertility experience more suffering than men with infertility due to other causes, and that it is socially unfavourable to be diagnosed with male factor infertility resulting in secrecy surrounding diagnosis, sometimes to the point that women take the blame for the couples' infertility. We investigated mental and physical health, support, and psychological and social stress in men (N = 256) prior to and after 12 months of unsuccessful treatment according to their diagnosis: unexplained, female factor, male factor, or mixed. Results suggest that men do not differ by diagnosis on any of the variables tested. When treatment was not successful, all men showed increased suffering in the form of decreased mental health, increased physical stress reactions, decreased social support, and increased negative social stress over time. These findings indicate that involuntary childlessness is difficult for all men, and is not dependent on with whom the cause lies. There was also a high level of agreement between couples and medical records on the cause of the couples' fertility arguing against the idea that women take the blame for male factor infertility.

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The predicament of masculinity: Towards understanding the male's experience of infertility treatments

Cited by 69 publications

References 29 publications

Factors that Predict Married Partners' Disclosures about Infertility to Social Network Members

Factors that Predict Married Partners' Disclosures about Infertility to Social Network Members

The Importance of Fatherhood to U.S. Married and Cohabiting Men

Patterns of suffering and social interactions in infertile men: 12 months after unsuccessful treatment

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