RESEARCH ARTICLE


Attitudes Towards Procreative Options in the Event of Infertility: The Role of Personal Values and Religiosity



Elena Canzi1, *, Francesca Danioni1, Rosa Rosnati1, Eugenia Scabini1, Daniela Barni2
1 Department of Psychology, Family Studies and Research University Centre, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
2 Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy


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Creative Commons License
© 2020 Canzi et al.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Psychology, Family Studies and Research University Centre, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy; E-mail: elena.canzi@unicatt.it
# These authors contributed equally to this work.


Abstract

Background:

Literature regarding attitudes towards procreative options in the event of infertility is highly limited.

Objective:

The general aim of the current cross-sectional study is to analyze the relation between basic, personal values (self-enhancement and self-transcendence), and procreative options (living without children, adoption, homologous techniques, and heterologous techniques), while exploring the role of religiosity in moderating this relation.

Methods:

A large sample of 1,891 young Italian adults aged between 18 and 33 was used in the study. The participants were asked to complete a self-report questionnaire. A series of hierarchical regression models were constructed using the SPSS 24.0 software, in order to test the moderation hypotheses.

Results:

Self-enhancement values were positively related to the choice of both homologous and heterologous techniques, whereas self-transcendence values were strong and positive predictors of adoption. Moreover, a significant moderating role of religiosity in shaping the relations between personal values and attitudes towards heterologous techniques emerged: at low levels of self-enhancement values, highly religious participants had a more negative attitude towards heterologous techniques compared to participants with low religiosity. However, self-transcendence values predicted a more positive attitude towards heterologous techniques among participants with low religiosity.

Conclusion:

Findings showed the link between personal values and attitudes towards assisted reproductive techniques and adoption, along with the role of religiosity in shaping this relation; heterologous techniques were the most controversial option according to participants’ perceptions.

Keywords: Infertility, Assisted reproductive techniques, Adoption, Personal values, Religious beliefs, Procreative options.