Skip to content

Survey study, 2018

Does how women think about menstruation affect their PMS symptoms?

Yes, women who view menstruation as debilitating or bothersome reported more PMS symptoms than those with more positive views.

Moderate study design 300 female university students in Northeast Iran

What they did

Researchers surveyed 300 female university students about their attitudes toward menstruation and their PMS symptoms using questionnaires.

What they found

76.6% of students thought menstruation was debilitating and 49.6% thought it was bothersome. Women with more negative attitudes reported more PMS symptoms. The most common premenstrual symptoms were mood swings, cramps, and feeling sad.

What it means for you

How women think about their period may influence how severe their symptoms feel. The main limit is this was only a survey, so we cannot tell whether negative attitudes cause worse symptoms or whether having worse symptoms causes negative attitudes.

300

female university students

76.6

percent saw menstruation as debilitating

49.6

percent saw menstruation as bothersome

About the study

Original title
The Relationship Between Attitudes Toward Menstruation and Perimenstrual Symptoms Among Female Students of Shahroud University of Medical Sciences, Northeast Iran
Authors
Ashraf Ghiasi, Afsaneh Keramat, Leila Mollaahmadi
Journal
Shiraz E-Medical Journal
Year
2018
Study design
Survey study
Participants
300
What was tested
None
Open access
Yes

Topics