title: [Self concept and body image in involuntary sterility].
abstract: From theoretical reasons and clinical experience with infertile women, an impairment of the self-image and the body-image was to be expected with involuntarily childless people. Our hypothesis was tested in a sample of 107 subjects. 59 of them (f = 30, m = 29) were patients undergoing treatment for infertility. The two control groups consisted of 24 parents and 24 (voluntary) nonparents. Four instruments were used: 1. a modified version of the Role Construct Repertory Test according to Kelly (1955); 2. rating scales concerning different parental and non-parental roles; 3. the Questionnaire About One's Own Body by Strauss and Appelt (1983); 4. our Questionnaire About Problems Caused by Involuntary Childlessness. Contrary to what we expected, we neither found greater distances between self and ideal self nor an unfavourable body-image in involuntarily childless subjects. The male patients presented themselves even more self-confident and more attractive than the men of the control groups.
authors.affiliation: Psychologisches Institut, Universität Heidelberg.
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Grimmig
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jaiser
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pfründer
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001828:Body Image; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D007247:Infertility, Female / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D010552:Personality Assessment; D012649:Self Concept
vernacular_title: Selbstbild und Körpererleben bei unfreiwilliger Kinderlosigkeit.