Oh, no, im not infertile”: Culture, support groups, and the infertile identity

Using in-depth interviews with forty subfecund women, I explore how sub-fecundity affects a woman’s sense of self. I examine the role that culture plays in the content of our identities, particularly in disrupted lives. I examine the role that culture, in particular the culture within a support group, plays in the content of infertile identities. I examine how some women come to see themselves as infertile while others do not, and how the women come to think about infertility in relation to the self. I employ theories of cultural sociology and identity to provide a framework for explaining the ways in which subfecund women draw on the cultures of support groups in reconstructing their selves in the face of subfecundity. © 2009, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved

Expectant mothers: Women\u27s infertility and the potential identity of biological motherhood

Using the voices of 196 infertile women we analyze women\u27s infertility from the perspective of identity theory. Results illustrate how the potential identity of becoming a biological mother can have an extremely high level of salience, therefore women enact behaviors that attempt to make the potential identity of motherhood a reality. However, because a discrepancy exists between the potential and actual identities, these women experience harmful consequences until they either become pregnant or choose to stop infertility treatments. By understanding how these women create, interpret, and sustain the potential identity of being a biological mother while struggling to reject a possibly permanent infertile identity, this study offers new insights into both the social process of infertility and identity theory. © 2005-2011 Qualitative Sociology Review

Expectant Mothers: Women’s Infertility and the Potential Identity of Biological Motherhood

Using the voices of 196 infertile women we analyze women’s infertility from the perspective of identity theory. Results illustrate how the potential identity of becoming a biological mother can have an extremely high level of salience, therefore women enact behaviors that attempt to make the potential identity of motherhood a reality. However, because a discrepancy exists between the potential and actual identities, these women experience harmful consequences until they either become pregnant or choose to stop infertility treatments. By understanding how these women create, interpret, and sustain the potential identity of being a biological mother while struggling to reject a possibly permanent infertile identity, this study offers new insights into both the social process of infertility and identity theory

That\u27s what makes a woman : Infertility and coping with a failed life course transition

Becoming a parent remains a key marker for the transition into adulthood, especially for many women. Infertility thwarts this transition. In this research, we investigate one aspect of the gendered nature of adult development within the life course. Specifically, this study examines interview data from 40 infertile women in order to explore how this group of women cope with what they perceive to be a failed life course transition and how it affects their sense of self. We find that this failed life course transition altered these women\u27s relationships with others. Further, this change had a corresponding effect on their self. These women\u27s inability to do gender by being mothers challenges their sense of themselves as normal adult women. Using West and Zimmerman\u27s concept of doing gender, we argue that infertility can be experienced as a failed life course transition among women who desire children. We also demonstrate how this failed transition has a distinctly gendered component. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

The effects of relationships with older females on the substance abuse and mental health of adolescent Boys

Objectives: The aim of this article is to describe the short-term effects of relationships with significantly older females on the substance use and mental health of adolescent boys. Methods: Weighted logistic regression and weighted least-squares regression were conducted using data from Waves 1 and 2 of the National Survey of Adolescent Health to determine the substance use and mental health effects of entry into an age-discordant relationship (n = 2318). Results: The results indicate that boys involved in an age-discordant relationship, in comparison with boys in an age-similar relationship, were more likely to have recently smoked cigarettes, use higher quantities of alcohol, and experience higher levels of anxiety. There was no significant relationship between having been involved in an age-discordant relationship and having recently used marijuana or cocaine, as well as no relationship with displaying suicidality. There was a trend toward depressive symptoms and lower self-esteem among boys in age-discordant relationships. Conclusion: On the whole, entering a relationship with a significantly older female is associated with some substance abuse effects, particularly cigarette and alcohol use, for adolescent boys. These relationships may encourage early adoption of adult behaviors but not broader deviance as such involvement does not influence the abuse of illicit substances

Short-term sexual health effects of relationships with significantly older females on adolescent boys

Purpose: To examine the short-term effects on the sexual health of adolescent boys in age discordant relationships. Methods: Weighted logistic regression analyses were conducted using data from waves 1 and 2 of the National Survey of Adolescent Health to determine the health effects of entry into an age discordant relationship on adolescent boys. Results: Results indicate that boys involved in an age discordant relationship, in comparison with boys in a similar age relationship, had higher odds of having had sexual intercourse (OR = 2.92), having got a partner pregnant (OR = 1.89), having been diagnosed with STD (OR = 4.41), and having lost one\u27s virginity (OR = 3.39). Analyses on the sexually active subset reveal no significant relationship between involvement in an age discordant relationship and birth control use broadly, or condom use specifically, at their most recent sexual intercourse. Conclusion: In general, entering into an age discordant relationship as a younger partner is associated with some adverse sexual health effects for adolescent boys. Thus, some outcomes that were demonstrated in previous research to be problematic for adolescent girls dating significantly older males are similarly problematic for adolescent boys dating older females. © 2012 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. All Rights Reserved

Distress about Sex: A National Survey of Women in Heterosexual Relationships

As a consequence of the impact of Viagra on male sexual dysfunction, considerable attention is now being paid to sexual dysfunctions in women, which might respond to pharmacological treatment. Should women\u27s sexual problems be conceptualized in the same way as men\u27s? The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of distress about sexuality among women, and examine the predictors of such distress, including aspects of the woman\u27s sexual experience, as well as other aspects of her current situation. A telephone survey of women used Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing and Telephone-Audio-Computer- Assisted Self-Interviewing methodology to investigate respondents\u27 sexual experiences in the previous month. A national probability sample was used of 987 White or Black/African American women aged 20-65 years, with English as first language, living for at least 6 months in a heterosexual relationship. The participation rate was 53.1%. Weighting was applied to increase the representativeness of the sample. A total of 24.4% of women reported marked distress about their sexual relationship and/or their own sexuality. The best predictors of sexual distress were markers of general emotional well-being and emotional relationship with the partner during sexual activity. Physical aspects of sexual response in women, including arousal, vaginal lubrication, and orgasm, were poor predictors. In general, the predictors of distress about sex did not fit well with the DSM-IV criteria for the diagnosis of sexual dysfunction in women. These findings are compared with those from other studies involving representative samples of women, and the conceptual issues involved in the use of terms such as sexual problem and sexual dysfunction are discussed

Predictors of Entry into Age-Discordant Relationships Among Adolescent Girls

Teenage girls in age-discordant relationships remain of concern for healthy development and well-being. We examine whether factors from several sociological frameworks-self-esteem, deviance, social ecology, family cohesion, and religious involvement-predict entry into such relationships. With longitudinal data on 1,537 adolescent girls, we use structural equation modeling to assess risk and protective factors by age group. Results indicate that few social factors predict entry to such relationships; only religious involvement for the youngest adolescents and self-esteem for middle adolescents predict entry. While adolescent girls who date older males are largely like their peers, any impact of social factors may vary by the developmental stage that adolescent girls occupy. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Depressive symptoms among adolescent girls in relationships with older partners: Causes and lasting effects?

Previous research on adolescent girls in relationships with older partners suggests a range of negative outcomes for the adolescent. Using three waves of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health and a life course perspective, we explore the connection between involvement in age discordant relationships (girls dating males three or more years older) and the course of depressive symptoms among adolescent girls. Our analyses are conducted on the 1,307 girls with data at all three waves who had been in a relationship in the last 18 months. The sample is 55% White, 22% Black, 7% other race and 16% Latina. When comparing early adolescent girls (13-15) and late adolescent girls (16-18), the younger girls are no more likely to have depressive symptoms before entry into the age discordant relationship, yet have greater depressive symptoms shortly after the relationship onset and 5 years later. Older adolescent girls in age discordant relationships, however, have similar levels of depressive symptoms at any time point relative to their peers. These data suggest that a girl\u27s developmental stage influences whether or not she experiences emotional distress as a result of being in an age discordant relationship. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC