--- title: What makes PMS worse in college women, stress or how they feel about periods? description: Both matter. Women with higher stress and a more negative attitude toward menstruation tended to have worse PMS, along with smoking and painful periods, but t url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/the-influential-factors-on-premenstrual-syndrome-college-female-students-2014/ --- - [Niyora](https://niyora.com/) - [Research](https://niyora.com/research/) - [Library](https://niyora.com/research/library/) - What makes PMS worse in college women, stress or how they feel about periods? Survey study, 2014 # What makes PMS worse in college women, stress or how they feel about periods? Both matter. Women with higher stress and a more negative attitude toward menstruation tended to have worse PMS, along with smoking and painful periods, but together these only explained about a quarter of the difference between women. Early or limited evidence 330 female college students in one city in Korea ## What they did Researchers surveyed 330 female college students in one Korean city over a few days in April 2012, asking about stress, attitudes to menstruation, and PMS symptoms, then used statistics to see which factors were linked to PMS. ## What they found Stress was linked to worse PMS (r=.36), and so was a negative attitude to menstruation (r=.34). Attitude to menstruation, stress, smoking, and painful periods together predicted PMS severity, explaining 27% of the variation. Attitude to menstruation was the strongest single factor. ## What it means for you Psychological factors like stress and how a woman views her period seem tied to PMS severity, but this study only shows a link, not that changing these would cure PMS. It was a one-time survey of young women in one city, so it can't prove cause and effect and may not apply to other groups. 330 Participants 27% Variation in PMS explained r=.36 Link between stress and PMS ## About the study Original title The Influential Factors on Premenstrual Syndrome College Female Students Authors Geum-Sook Jung, Hyun-Mi Oh, In-Ryoung Choi Journal Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society Year 2014 Study design Survey study Participants 330 What was tested None (observational survey, no treatment tested) Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.5762/kais.2014.15.5.3025](https://doi.org/10.5762/kais.2014.15.5.3025) ## Topics [Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Dysmenorrhea and period pain](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-dysmenorrhea/)[Irritability and anger](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-irritability-anger/)[Stress](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-stress/)[Alcohol, smoking and substance use](https://niyora.com/research/topics/comorbidity-substance-use/)[Students and academic performance](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-education/)[Stigma, attitudes and culture](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-stigma-culture/) Research tells you what helps on average. Niyora helps on the day it hits. Calm down, see it another way, and decide what to say, with a PMS and PMDD app built by a doctor. ## Related studies Survey study, 2023 Is there a link between PMS symptoms and how the nervous system controls heart rate? Survey study, 2025 What psychological and personal factors predict which university students will develop premenstrual syndrome? Survey study, 2025 How common are PMS and painful periods among female medical students in Saudi Arabia, and what causes them? Survey study, 2023 What factors make premenstrual syndrome worse in nursing students? Survey study, 2023 What factors make PMS worse in college students? Cohort study, 2019 How do exercise, diet and weight affect menstrual problems? Ask AI about this page Copy prompt ChatGPT ↗ Claude ↗ Perplexity ↗ Google AI Mode ↗ Grok ↗