Survey study, 2021
Do PMS and PMDD affect attention and short-term memory in teenage girls?
Yes, somewhat. Teenage girls with PMS/PMDD did worse on a test of attention and interference control than girls without it, and their performance dropped further in the luteal (premenstrual) phase.
What they did
86 adolescents aged 14 to 18 filled out a premenstrual symptom questionnaire. From this, 36 girls with PMS/PMDD and 30 girls without it (controls) were tested twice: once in the follicular phase and once in the luteal phase, using memory and attention tests (including the Stroop test) plus mood and behavior questionnaires.
What they found
Girls with PMS/PMDD performed worse than controls on the part of the Stroop test that measures interference (the ability to ignore distracting information), and this was worse in the luteal phase than the follicular phase. There was no significant group difference on the memory test (VADS-B), but within the PMS/PMDD group, luteal-phase scores were weaker than follicular-phase scores, while controls showed no phase difference.
What it means for you
PMS/PMDD in teenagers may come with some difficulty concentrating and resisting distraction, especially before a period, which could affect schoolwork. The study was small and cross-sectional, so it cannot prove PMS/PMDD causes these changes, only that they occur together.
86
Total adolescents screened
36
Girls with PMS/PMDD analysed
30
Control girls analysed
About the study
- Original title
- The effects of PMS/PMDD on attention and shortterm memory in adolescent girls
- Authors
- Cansu Çobanoğlu Osmanlı
- Journal
- Dusunen Adam The Journal of Psychiatry and Neurological Sciences
- Year
- 2021
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 86
- What was tested
- None (observational comparison across menstrual cycle phases).
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.14744/dajpns.2021.00150
Topics
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