Procreation Anxiety in the Context of Disability: The Role of Irrational Beliefs among Mothers

Abstract

Background: The psychological problem of procreation anxiety for mothers who have disabled children remains insufficiently researched, because the population faces increased difficulties. The assumption exists that people develop anxiety from their irrational beliefs, but scientific research has not yet confirmed this connection.
Objective: The study examined how irrational beliefs relate to procreation anxiety experienced by mothers who raise children with disabilities. The study also sought to investigate how irrational beliefs function as predictors of procreation anxiety. Methods: The research used a cross-sectional design to study 224 mothers who had children with disabilities in Irbid Jordan. The researchers collected data through validated self-report measures which evaluated irrational beliefs and procreation anxiety. The researchers conducted statistical analysis through descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation and stepwise multiple regression and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) procedures.
Results: The findings indicated moderate levels of irrational beliefs (M = 2.90) and procreation anxiety (M = 3.43). Correlation analysis revealed that only the dimension of comfort and frustration tolerance was significantly associated with procreation anxiety (r = 0.287, p < .001), whereas other dimensions showed no significant relationships. Regression analysis confirmed that this dimension was the only significant predictor, explaining 7% of the variance (R² = 0.07). SEM results indicated a non-significant structural relationship between irrational beliefs and procreation anxiety (β = 0.067, p = .426), suggesting limited explanatory power of the proposed model.
Conclusion: The study shows that irrational beliefs only partly explain the procreation anxiety experienced by mothers of children with disabilities. results show that procreation anxiety results from psychological factors and environmental elements which require complete treatment methods and additional studies to be understood.