Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Infertility: testing a helpseeking model.

Lynn White1, Julia McQuillan, Arthur L Greil

  • 1Department of Sociology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0324, USA. lwhite3@unlnotes.unl.edu

Social Science & Medicine (1982)
|December 20, 2005
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Synthetic ecology of coastal ecosystems.

Cell reports·2026
Same author

Perceptions of infertility: The roles of age, knowledge, and motivated reasoning.

Population studies·2026
Same author

Partner congruence on fertility intentions and values: Implications for birth outcomes.

Journal of social and personal relationships·2026
Same author

Infertility and Self-identification: The Indeterminacy of the Illness-self Relationship.

Sociological perspectives : SP : official publication of the Pacific Sociological Association·2026
Same author

Bearing the Reproductive Load? Unequal Reproductive Careers Among U.S. Women.

Population research and policy review·2026
Same author

Infertility and fertility intentions, desires, and outcomes among US women.

Demographic research·2026

Many infertile women do not seek medical help, even when experiencing symptoms. Identifying infertility as a personal problem is crucial for seeking fertility treatment.

Area of Science:

  • Sociology of health
  • Reproductive health
  • Behavioral science

Background:

  • Infertility affects a significant number of women.
  • Help-seeking behavior theories provide a framework for understanding medical treatment utilization.
  • Previous research indicates a gap between infertility diagnosis and seeking medical intervention.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine a general theory of help-seeking behavior applied to infertility.
  • To investigate factors influencing medical help-seeking among infertile women.
  • To test a model where perceived infertility mediates predictors and help-seeking.

Main Methods:

  • Data from 196 infertile women in the Midwestern US were analyzed.
  • The study examined symptom salience, life course cues, attitudes, predisposing factors, and enabling conditions.

Related Experiment Videos

  • A mediation model was employed to assess the role of perceived infertility.

    • Main Results:

    • Only 35% of infertile women identified their condition, and 40% sought treatment.
    • Symptom salience, low parity, and poor subjective health correlated with perceived infertility.
    • Perceived infertility was significantly associated with seeking medical help for fertility issues.

    Conclusions:

    • Identifying infertility as a personal problem (perceived infertility) is critical for medical help-seeking.
    • Symptom salience influences help-seeking partially through the perception of having fertility problems.
    • Internal health locus of control was linked to lower help-seeking but not perceived infertility.