Survey study, 2001
How does a woman's attitude toward menstruation relate to her premenstrual symptoms?
A clear connection was found between how women view menstruation and their premenstrual symptoms. Women who saw menstruation as weakening them physically and emotionally experienced more premenstrual symptoms.
What they did
Cross-sectional study of 268 female college students in South Korea from March to July 2001. Researchers measured premenstrual symptoms and attitudes toward menstruation using two questionnaires.
What they found
All 268 students reported at least one premenstrual symptom. The most common were fatigue, bloating, backache and muscle stiffness. The mean symptom score was 1.89. Women experienced more negative symptoms than positive ones. There was a clear connection between how women viewed menstruation and their symptom severity. Women who believed menstruation weakened them physically and emotionally had the strongest link to more severe premenstrual symptoms.
What it means for you
How a woman thinks and feels about menstruation appears connected to how much she experiences premenstrual symptoms. This suggests that thoughts and attitudes may play a role in symptom severity. The main limitation is that this shows only a connection, not proof that attitudes cause symptoms, and was only studied in South Korea.
268
female students
1.89
mean symptom score
About the study
- Original title
- A Study on Premenstrual syndrome and Menstrual Attitude
- Authors
- Kyung Eun Park, Seoung Eun Lee
- Journal
- Korean journal of women health nursing/Yeoseong geon'gang ganho hag'hoeji/Yeoseong geon-gang ganho hakoeji
- Year
- 2001
- Study design
- Survey study
- What was tested
- None
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.4069/kjwhn.2001.7.3.359
Topics
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