Survey study, 2020
Does a history of childhood trauma make premenstrual symptoms worse?
Yes, women who reported more childhood trauma also reported more severe premenstrual symptoms, and this link seemed to be fully explained by difficulties managing emotions.
What they did
112 female students at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem filled out questionnaires about premenstrual symptoms (PSST), childhood trauma (CTQ), and emotion regulation difficulties (DERS). The researchers tested whether emotion regulation explained or changed the link between trauma and premenstrual symptoms.
What they found
22 women (18.6%) met criteria for PMS and 16 (13.6%) for PMDD. More childhood trauma was linked to more premenstrual symptoms (r = .282), and this link was fully explained by emotion regulation difficulties. Sexual abuse (r = .243) and emotional neglect (r = .198) were linked to premenstrual symptoms specifically. Abuse, but not neglect, predicted greater difficulty regulating emotions (r = .33).
What it means for you
The authors suggest that helping women with a trauma history build better emotion regulation skills could help them cope with premenstrual changes. This is a one-time survey of young university students in one city, relying on self-report, so it cannot prove trauma causes premenstrual symptoms.
13.6%
Met PMDD criteria
18.6%
Met PMS criteria
r = .282
Trauma-symptom link
About the study
- Original title
- Childhood Trauma and Premenstrual Symptoms: The Role of Emotion Regulation
- Authors
- Azoulay M, Reuveni I, Dan R et al.
- Journal
- Child abuse & neglect
- Year
- 2020
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 112
- What was tested
- None tested; this looked at links between childhood trauma, emotion regulation, and premenstrual symptoms
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104637
Topics
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