Anxiety, Social Support, Family Resilience, and Quality of Life Among Women Undergoing In Vitro Fertilization: A Cross-Sectional Mediation Analysis.

Background

Women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) often experience poor well-being. Social support and family resilience are considered protective factors, but their combined roles in the anxiety-fertility-related quality of life (FertiQoL) relationship remain unclear.

Design

A cross-sectional study was conducted with women undergoing IVF at the reproductive medicine department of a tertiary hospital in Shanghai, China, between March and December 2024.

Methods

Participants completed validated measures of anxiety, social support, family resilience, and QoL. Associations and indirect effects were examined using mediation analysis, and sensitivity analyses were conducted.

Results

A total of 419 women participated in the study (response rate = 98.6%; mean age = 33.3 ± 4.7 years). Anxiety was negatively associated with social support, family resilience, and FertiQoL (all p < 0.001). The total indirect association between anxiety and FertiQoL involving social support and family resilience was statistically significant (B = -0.15, p = 0.03). However, the specific indirect effects, including the hypothesized sequential pathway through social support and family resilience, were not statistically significant. The total association between anxiety and FertiQoL was significant (β = -0.32, p < 0.001).

Conclusions

Anxiety was associated with poorer FertiQoL among women undergoing IVF. Although the findings suggest an overall indirect association involving social support and family resilience, the hypothesized sequential mediation pathway was not supported. Therefore, the results should be interpreted cautiously, and longitudinal studies are needed to clarify the temporal and causal relationships among these psychosocial factors.