Waiting for a baby: Navigating uncertainty in recollections of trying to conceive.

Objective: Guided by the uncertainty navigation model, this study examined experiences of uncertainty associated with trying to conceive and identified predictors of this experience using a multi-method approach.

Method: 429 American adults from Amazon's Mechanical Turk who had a child under age three completed online questionnaires regarding their experiences trying to conceive, including recollections of psychological adjustment, use of coping strategies, and individual and situational variability. Then they provided open-ended reflections of their experience trying to conceive. Participants' descriptions were analyzed for word use using LIWC, a text-analysis software program, to obtain an unobtrusive and pseudo-observational measure of coping resources.

Results: Consistent with the uncertainty navigation model, recollections of distress as individuals tried to conceive were associated with lower levels of dispositional optimism; intolerance of uncertainty; fewer social, emotional, and cognitive resources (reflected in word use); placing greater importance on conception; lower risk for infertility; and less searching for meaning in life.

Conclusions: This study revealed many novel insights regarding the experience of trying to conceive, including protective factors and vulnerabilities that may buffer or heighten the distress associated with this experience.