Social support among women with infertility: Associations with psychiatric symptoms, disordered eating, and substance use

Though social support in the broader population is related to better psychosocial outcomes, little work has examined the relationship between social support and patient-reported outcomes among women with infertility. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether perceived social support was associated with psychiatric symptoms, disordered eating, and substance use among women with an infertility diagnosis. Individuals who received a diagnosis of female-factor infertility (N = 188) completed measures of perceived social support, psychiatric symptoms, disordered eating, and substance use. Approximately two-thirds of participants endorsed having high levels of perceived social support (63.3%) with smaller proportions indicating moderate (28.2%) or low levels (8.5%). Compared to those with high levels of support, participants with low/moderate levels were more likely to report greater symptoms of anxiety (p < 0.001), greater symptoms of depression (p < 0.001), and hazardous cannabis use (p = 0.03). Clinicians could consider screening women with infertility for level of social support.