The Influence of Emotional Intelligence and Spousal Support on Marital Adjustment Among Infertile Women

Abstract

One of the most significant psychosocial stressors that may negatively influence the emotional health of women and the quality of their marital relationships is infertility, especially in the culture where maternity is directly connected with the social identity. This current research was an attempt to test the relationship among emotional intelligence, spousal support, and marital adjustment in infertile women and to test the mediation effect of spousal support between emotional intelligence and marital adjustment. The cross-sectional correlational research design was adopted. The sample included 200 infertile women between the ages of 20 and 40 years and these samples were recruited in the tertiary care hospitals. The participants were made to take the Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test, the Spousal Support Scale, and the Marital Adjustment Scale. The analysis of the data involved Pearson correlation, hierarchical multiple regression, and mediation analysis. Findings showed that there were strong positive relationships between emotional intelligence, spousal support and marital adjustment. The hierarchical regression analysis revealed that emotional intelligence predicted marital adjustment significantly above the age factor, whereas spousal support augmented the amount of variance explained in the marital adjustment. Through mediation, it was shown that spousal support was a mediating factor on the emotional intelligence to marital adjustment, meaning that emotionally intelligent women have a better marital adjustment directly and indirectly through improved spousal support. These results show that emotional and relational resources are essential in facilitating marital adjustment in infertile women. The article highlights the importance of psychosocial interventions in enhancing of emotional intelligence and spousal involvement to promote marital well-being in infertile women especially in collectivistic cultural settings.

Keywords

infertility emotional intelligence spousal support marital adjustment marriage and family counseling

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