---
title: How do women describe their own premenstrual changes? | Niyora
description: Women describe changes in a structured way covering whether changes happen, when they occur, what type they are, and what effects they have. This structure di
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/so-mean-and-cranky-i-could-bite-my-mother-an-ethnosemantic-analysis-of-women-s-1994/
---

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- How do women describe their own premenstrual changes?

Survey study, 1994

# How do women describe their own premenstrual changes?

Women describe changes in a structured way covering whether changes happen, when they occur, what type they are, and what effects they have. This structure differs slightly from how standard questionnaires ask about PMS.

 Early or limited evidence

336 women (261 provided written narrative summaries).

## What they did

Textual analysis of open-ended written responses from 336 women who completed the Premenstrual Assessment Form. Of these, 261 provided written narratives describing their premenstrual changes.

## What they found

Women's descriptions followed a logical hierarchy: the presence or absence of changes, their timing, what type of change, and cumulative effects (consequences). Although the types of symptoms matched the questionnaire, the timing and cumulative effects did not completely align with the questionnaire structure.

## What it means for you

Standard questionnaires may not capture how women actually experience premenstrual changes. Future questionnaires could be redesigned based on how women naturally describe their experiences. This analyzed written descriptions from 261 women, not all participants.

336

Women who completed the questionnaire

261

Who provided written narrative summaries

## About the study

Original title "So mean and cranky, I could bite my mother": an ethnosemantic analysis of women's descriptions of premenstrual change Authors Cumming CE, Urion C, Cumming DC et al. Journal Women & health Year 1994 Study design Survey study Participants 336 What was tested None. Read the paper [doi.org/10.1300/j013v21n04_02](https://doi.org/10.1300/j013v21n04_02)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)

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Calm down, see it another way, and decide what to say, with a PMS and PMDD app built by a doctor.

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