Sexual Self-Concept in Fertile and Infertile Women: A Comparative Study

BACKGROUND: Sexual self-concept has a considerable impact on mental and sexual health. However, the relationship between sexual self-concept and infertility is unknown. This study aimed to compare sexual self-concept between fertile and infertile women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 250 fertile and 250 infertile women who had referred to 9 health centers affiliated to Medical universities in Tehran and Royan infertility treatment clinics in Tehran, Iran in 2017. Sexual self-concept was measured using the Multidimensional Sexual Self-Concept Questionnaire (MSSCQ) consisting of 20 subscales. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was performed to compare sexual self-concept between the two groups. RESULTS: The mean age of fertile and infertile women was 34 ± 5.62 and 29.74 ± 5.29 years, respectively. The high- est score in both groups was for the sexual self-schemata subscale (mean score for fertile=3.21 ± 0.68 and for infer- tile=3.42 ± 0.62). The lowest score was for sexual-depression subscale (mean score for fertile=0.59 ± 0.81 and for infertile=0.61 ± 0.76). After adjustment for the age of each subject, the husband's age, duration of marriage, and wom- en’s education, we analyzed the sexual-satisfaction, the power-other sexual control, and the fear-of-sex subscales, which were found to be significantly lower in infertile women (P<0.05). No other significant differences between the fertile and infertile groups were observed. CONCLUSION: We observed significant differences between fertile and infertile women in terms of sexual-satisfaction, the power-other sexual control, and the fear-of-sex, but not in other sexual self-concept subscales. These findings sug- gest that there is need to improve sexual self-concept among both fertile and infertile women. Indeed implementation of educational and counseling programs by reproductive health specialists might play an important role in enhancing sexual self-concept among these populations.