Introduction: The birth of a child is a significant turning point in the life of a woman. It is a source of personal fulfilment, but also a great challenge. On the other hand, the inability to conceive a child in a natural way results in a serious distortion of a woman's psychic balance. Becoming a mother is an indicator of personal fulfilment and the source of social acceptation. Therefore, both becoming a mother and the inability to conceive a child in a natural way may be seen as stressful factors that impact a woman's life.
Aim of the study: The research project aimed to analyze the differences in stress, resilience and satisfaction with relationship and sexual satisfaction between early-stage mothers, i.e., women having a child and childless women seeking pregnancy.
Sample: The study involved 80 women-40 mothers and 40 infertile women. The mean age of the mothers was 31.10 yrs (SD = 3.76) and of the childless women seeking pregnancy-31.48 yrs (SD = 3.35). Both groups were homogenous with regards to education, place of residence, the form and time of their relationship with partners.
Method: The perceived stress was measured with the Perceived Stress Scale PSS-Polish adaptation by Juczyński and Ogińska-Bulik. Resilience was measured with Personal Adaptation Scale (LIRS-pl)-Polish adaptation by Malina, Pooley and Harms. The quality of the relationship was measured using the Quality of Relationship Inventory (QRI) adapted to Polish version by Suwalska-Barancewicz, Liberska and Izdebski and the sexual satisfaction was measured with the Sexual Satisfaction Questionnaire by Nomejko and Dolińska-Zygmunt.
Results and conclusions: Statistical analyses indicate that the participating women differ in the level of perceived stress (higher among childless women seeking pregnancy; t = 2.721; p = 0.008), the depth/intensity of the relationship (higher among childless women seeking pregnancy; t = 2.376; p = 0.020) and conflict (higher among mothers; t = -2.829; p = 0.006). This research project proved that infertility and its consequences are not only negative. The research has shown that lower levels of relationship conflicts and greater commitment occur more frequently among infertile women than among mothers. Regardless of the observed differences in the studied sample, it is noteworthy that the compared groups are also similar to some extent. They neither differed in the level of personal resilience nor perceived support. Therefore, although the two experienced issues seem to be different, they may appear psychologically similar to some extent.
Keywords: infertility; motherhood; quality of relationship; stress.