Perceived infertility-related stress, partner attachment, and psychological distress among women undergoing in-vitro fertilization treatment - a latent profile and mediation analysis

Sep 30, 2026

Infertility-related stress shows substantial heterogeneity in its psychological impact on women receiving in vitro fertilization (IVF), yet the underlying patterns remain unclear. This study identifies distinct profiles of perceived infertility-related stress and tests how partner attachment mediates the association between stress profiles and psychological distress. In a cross-sectional survey of 312 women, stress, attachment, and distress were measured and analyzed using latent profile and mediation approaches.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Liu et al. BMC Women's Health (2026) 26:13 BMC Women's Health [https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-025-04172-6](https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-025-04172-6) RESEARCH Open Access Perceived infertility-related stress, partner attachment, and psychological distress among women undergoing in-vitro fertilization treatment: a latent profile and mediation analysis Dan Liu 1, Sijie Hu2, Bing Fu2, Qinjing Yang 1, Ruirui Huang3, Juan Huang4 and Quan Shen2* Abstract Background The heterogeneity of infertility-related stress and its psychological impact among women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment remain insufficiently understood. This study aims to identify distinct stress profilesand examine the mediating role of partner attachment in the link between stress profiles and psychological distress. Methods A total of 312 infertile women undergoing IVF treatment were enrolled in this cross-sectional survey. Perceived infertility-related stress, partner attachment, and psychological distress was assessed using the Copenhagen Multi-Centre Psychosocial Infertility Fertility Problem Stress Scale, Experiences in Close Relationships Scale, and Kessler Psychological Distress Scale. Latent profile analysis was used to identify distinct infertility stress profiles. Mediation analysis was performed to explore the role of partner attachment in the relationship between perceived infertility stress profiles and psychological distress. Results Latent profile analysis on three infertility stress dimensions (personal stress, marital stress, and social stress) indicated three profiles: high-stress profile (7%), moderate-stress profile (54%), low-stress profile (39%) . Multicategorical mediation analysis showed that both attachment anxiety and attachment avoidant partially mediated effect in the connection of high-stress profile and psychological distress (B = 1 . 9310, 95%CI = 0 . 8122, 3 . 2378; B = 0 . 9635, 95%CI = 0 . 2682, 1. 8954), whereas it fully mediated effect in the moderate-stress profile and psychological distress (B = 0 . 8928, 95%CI = 0 .4124, 1.4401; B = 0 . 6230, 95%CI = 0 . 1874, 1. 1291) . Conclusion This study identified heterogeneity in the infertility-related stress patterns of women undergoing IVF treatment and explored the associations between perceived infertility stress profiles and psychological distress using a person-centered approach. These findings offer preliminary insights suggesting that attachment-oriented interventions may be helpful in supporting this vulnerable population. *Correspondence: Quan Shen [shenquan@csu.edu.cn](shenquan@csu.edu.cn) Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s) 2025. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit [http://creati](http://creati)[vecommons.org/l](vecommons.org/l)icenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Liu et al. BMC Women's Health (2026) 26:13 Page 2 of 11 Keywords Perceived infertility-related stress, Person-centered, Psychological distress, Attachment, Infertility, In-virto fertilization treatment Introduction

FAQs

What is the study’s main objective?

To identify distinct profiles of perceived infertility-related stress among women undergoing IVF and examine how partner attachment mediates links between those stress profiles and psychological distress.

How many participants were included and what study design was used?

A cross-sectional survey enrolled 312 infertile women undergoing IVF treatment.

How were stress profiles and mediation effects analyzed?

Latent profile analysis identified distinct infertility stress profiles, and multicategorical mediation analysis tested how attachment anxiety and attachment avoidant mediated relationships between stress profiles and psychological distress.

Sep 30, 2026

Upload by Rainbow Cat