Endorsement of racialized reproductive stereotypes as a barrier to infertility treatment among Black women

Infertility is a quickly growing public health issue with significant impacts on wellbeing and quality of life. As a result, more women are turning toward assisted reproductive technologies to help achieve pregnancy. Black women in the United States are disproportionately affected by infertility when compared to White women, however, despite increasing utilization of infertility treatment in the United States, Black women face significant disparities in infertility treatment access and outcomes. Literature on this topic has shown that a myriad of factors, including income level, insurance coverage, lack of culturally competent providers, institutional mistrust, and cultural stigmas around fertility and infertility affect Black women’s infertility treatment utilization. However, internalized stigma (internalized negative beliefs about oneself) related to infertility and infertility treatment utilization remains an under researched barrier to care. Internalized stigma is a known cause of health disparities and is specifically linked to lower treatment utilization across a variety of health conditions The primary objective of this study is to develop and psychometrically evaluate a measure of internalized stigma and racialized sexual and reproductive stereotype endorsement for Black women and provide an understanding of how this measure could be used to craft a more nuanced understanding of infertility treatment attitudes and willingness among Black women.

Grantor dc:publisher

Temple University. Libraries

Year dc:date.issued

2026

Author dc:creator

• Askew-Shabazz, Imani N'seya

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Wheldon, Christopher

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Bass, Sarah B.
• Dumenci, Levent
• Clarke, Lasha

• Public health
• African American studies
• Gender studies
• Black women
• Infertility
• Internalized stigma
• Reproduction
• Sexuality
• Stereotypes

Statement dc:rights

• IN COPYRIGHT- This Rights Statement can be used for an Item that is in copyright. Using this statement implies that the organization making this Item available has determined that the Item is in copyright and either is the rights-holder, has obtained permission from the rights-holder(s) to make their Work(s) available, or makes the Item available under an exception or limitation to copyright (including Fair Use) that entitles it to make the Item available.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Repository record dc:identifier.uri

https://scholarshare.temple.edu/handle/20.500.12613/12256

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarshare.temple.edu:20.500.12613/12256