Psychosocial factors discriminate oligozoospermic from normozoospermic men.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the profile of psychosocial variables in a group of oligozoospermic and normozoospermic men for assessing the hypothesis of a relationship between impaired seminal status and psychosocial factors.


METHODS
Double-blind investigation of the psychosocial differences between oligozoospermics and normozoospermics.


METHODS
Healthy volunteers in a clinical environment.


METHODS
Two hundred eighty men attending their first seminal examination.


METHODS
We selected 37 oligozoospermic patients on the basis of sperm concentration and 37 normozoospermic controls for comparison.


METHODS
Differences in alexithymia (difficulty identifying feelings, difficulty describing feelings, externally oriented thinking), personality traits (extroversion, neuroticism, psychoticism), and coping style toward stressors (task-oriented coping, emotion-oriented coping, avoidance-oriented coping) were assessed in the two groups.


RESULTS
Wilk's Lambda (.79) of the discriminant analysis showed a statistically significant difference between the two groups. The following variables met the inclusion criterion in the discriminant function: psychoticism and difficulty describing feeling. This analysis also showed a high probability of correct classification of oligozoospermic men on the basis of the psychosocial variables.


CONCLUSIONS
The relationship between psychosocial variables and seminal status has been confirmed in a group of oligozoospermic and normozoospermic men.
De Gennaro
Luigi
L
Department of Psychology, University of Rome "La Sapienza,", Rome, Italy. luigi.degennaro@uniroma1.it
Balistreri
Simona
S
Lenzi
Andrea
A
Lombardo
Francesco
F
Ferrara
Michele
M
Gandini
Loredana
L
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004644:Emotions; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009845:Oligospermia / Q000523:psychology*; D010551:Personality; D013076:Sperm Count