Self-Esteem and Coping Resources among Fertile and Infertile Adults

It ts common that the stress ts developed among those who receive treatment for their infertility. Some give response to this stress by avoiding the activities on the contrary others maintains their participation. The present study investigates two factors that may help to explain these variations across individuals in their responses. It was undertaken to examine the relationship between self-esteem and coping resources in different areas (cognitive, social, emotional, spiritual or philosophical and physical resources) as well as on the whole among fertile and infertile adults. Data were obtained from a sample of 160 (80 fertile adults i.e. 40 male and 40 females and 80 infertile adults i.e. 40 male and 40 female) non-institutionalized adults aged between 30 to 40 years. Coppersmith's (1981, 2002) Self-Esteem Inventory (adult) and Martin and Hammer's (1988, 2004) Coping Resources Inventory were used. The Data were analysed applying f test and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Method. The results reveal that fertile adults (Male and Female together) differ significantly from the infertile adults (Male and Female together) on self-esteem and cognitive, social, spiritual and physical coping resources. Fertile adults obtain higher means scores in comparison to infertile adults. The ¥ values between the scores on self-esteem and those on coping resources (overall and area-wise) are positively correlated.