Personal Growth and Life Satisfaction among Arab Mothers After Fertility Treatment – The Role of Stress and Optimism

Procreation has always been one of the main goals of marriage in Muslim society, where it is a religious obligation. Therefore, the inability to conceive is an extremely stressful experience that is liable to have long-term implications for a woman’s mental health. These effects may persist even after the problem is resolved and the woman has given birth. The current study therefore examined the personal growth and life satisfaction of Israeli Arab mothers (n = 154) up to two years after childbirth, comparing those who conceived as a result of fertility treatment with those who conceived spontaneously. By completion of electronic questionnaires posted through social media, we explored the contribution of stress and optimism, as well as the moderating effects of religiosity and study group. No differences were found between the groups on level of stress, personal growth, or life satisfaction. For the whole sample, a negative association was found between stress and life satisfaction, and a positive association between optimism and the two outcome variables. In addition, level of religiosity was not significantly associated with either personal growth or life satisfaction, and neither religiosity nor study group was found to moderate the associations between the variables. Finally, a negative linear, rather than curvilinear, link emerged between stress and personal growth.