A study to assess the stress and coping behavior of childless couples living in selected communities of Mangalore

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the stress level of childless couples as measured by the stress scale and to determine the coping behavior of childless couples as measured by the coping behavior scale and also to find and study the relationship between the stress levels and the coping behavior of childless couples. Materials and Methods: A descriptive correlational design was used for this study and the study was carried out in a selected community of Mangalore, i.e. at Mullerkad at the home setting of the samples. The sample comprised of 50 couples (50 husbands and 50 wives) selected by snowball sampling technique. Results: Though both husbands and wives had moderate stress toward childlessness, wives had higher stress (mean: 105.26) than husbands (mean: 103.9). There was no significant difference between the stress of husbands and wives (t 98 = 0.435, P > 0.05). Their coping behavior was average. However, wives had better coping behavior (mean: 238.46) than husbands (mean: 221.5). There was significant difference between the coping behavior of husbands and wives toward childlessness (t 98 = 2.938, P 0.05). However, there was significant correlation between the stress and coping behavior of wives toward childlessness (r = 0.515, P < 0.05). There was no association between stress of the couples and selected demographic variables. Similarly there was no association between the coping behavior of the couples and selected demographic variables except education of wives (χ12 = 5.715, P < 0.05). Conclusion: Both husbands and wives had moderate stress and average coping behavior toward childlessness. However, wives exhibited better coping behavior than husbands.

Keywords

• Childless couples
• coping behavior
• stress