What does this research mean for the field?

Among women seeking fertility care, infertility stigma and fertility-related stress organize primarily along a severity gradient rather than into qualitatively distinct subtypes, with public stigma and self-devaluation acting as highly influential nodes in the symptom network. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.INCREMENTAL. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

What question did this study set out to answer?

To identify combined stigma and stress profiles among infertile women and examine node-level network associations connecting stigma, stress, depression, and family function.

September 14, 2026BMC Public HealthOpen Access

Infertility stigma-fertility stress profiles and symptom-level associations among infertile women in Hainan Province: a latent profile and network analysis

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Authors

SDShiye DengStony Brook University YWYing WangHainan Medical University JLJie LiuShenyang Normal University

Discussion

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Implication

Cross-sectional study identifies severity-graded stigma-stress profiles in infertile women, highlighting self-devaluation and public stigma as key targets for psychosocial intervention.

Key Points

To identify combined stigma and stress profiles among infertile women and examine node-level network associations connecting stigma, stress, depression, and family function.
Conducted a cross-sectional study of 1,294 treatment-seeking infertile women recruited from two tertiary reproductive care centers in Hainan Province, China.
Evaluated participants using the Infertility Stigma Scale, Fertility Problem Inventory, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, and Family APGAR Questionnaire.
Identified participant profiles using latent profile analysis with R3STEP multinomial logistic regression and constructed psychological networks using an EBICglasso model.
Identified three severity-graded profiles: low stigma-low stress (43.5%, n = 563), moderate stigma-moderate stress (41.7%, n = 540), and high stigma-high stress (14.8%, n = 191).
Rural residence, lower educational attainment, perceived financial stress, and female-factor infertility were associated with significantly higher odds of membership in the high-burden profile.
In network analysis, public stigma and self-devaluation showed the highest expected influence, with self-devaluation displaying the strongest bridge connectivity to depressive symptoms.

Cite This Study

Deng et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6aa7b3fc0926e14a848b368d https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-026-29453-z

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Implication

Cross-sectional study identifies severity-graded stigma-stress profiles in infertile women, highlighting self-devaluation and public stigma as key targets for psychosocial intervention.

Infertility stigma-fertility stress profiles and symptom-level associations among infertile women in Hainan Province: a latent profile and network analysis

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

Infertility stigma-fertility stress profiles and symptom-level associations among infertile women in Hainan Province: a latent profile and network analysis

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

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