Survey study, 2025
Is heavy social media use linked to worse PMS in students?
Yes. Students with severe social media addiction were 5.35 times more likely to have PMS than those with mild addiction. However, this only shows they go together, not that social media causes PMS.
What they did
Researchers surveyed 380 students at a medical university in Iran between 2023 and 2024. Students completed questionnaires about social media addiction and PMS symptoms. Researchers looked for connections between the two.
What they found
73.68% of students had PMS, and 7.11% had PMDD (more severe). 14.21% had severe social media addiction. Students with severe social media addiction were 5.35 times more likely to have PMS than those with mild addiction (p=0.001). There was a clear trend: more addiction meant higher rates of PMS.
What it means for you
Heavy social media use and PMS go together in students, but we do not know if one causes the other. Both may cause similar mood symptoms like anxiety. The main limit is this was one moment in time at one university in Iran, so results may not apply to other groups or countries. Researchers recommend educating students about healthy social media use.
73.68%
Students with PMS
5.35
Times higher odds of PMS with severe social media addiction
14.21%
Students with severe social media addiction
About the study
- Original title
- Prevalence of premenstrual syndrome among students and the association of social media addiction with its severity in Hamadan: a cross-sectional study
- Authors
- Mousavi SF, Goudarz S, Latifi A et al.
- Journal
- BMC psychiatry
- Year
- 2025
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 380
- What was tested
- Not applicable
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1186/s12888-025-07116-4
Topics
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