How do individual attachment patterns of both members of couples affect their perceived infertility stress? An actor–partner interdependence analysis

• Do attachment patterns of infertile couples affect their infertility-stress?
• 385 couples undergoing fertility treatment were recruited.
• The wife feels more distress when her partner displays high attachment avoidance.
• The husband feels more distress when his partner is high in attachment anxiety.
• The APIM is a useful approach for examining infertile couples' attachment dimensions.

There exists a lack of dyadic research examining how the attachment characteristics of infertile individuals influence their experience of infertility-related distress. The actor partner interdependence model was used to test a theoretical model by examining whether both infertile wives and husbands, who display high levels of attachment avoidance and/or attachment anxiety, will experience infertility-related distress. Seven hundred and seventy individuals (385 couples) completed the experience in close relationships, the fertility problem inventory, and the state-trait anxiety inventory prior to infertility treatment. Wives' distress was predicted by their own and by their husbands' attachment avoidance. Husbands' distress was predicted by wives' attachment anxiety. Moreover, interaction effects between two partners were observed when predicting husbands' distress. The results of the current study support the reciprocal nature of couple's attachment relationships.