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Survey study, 2018

Does worse premenstrual syndrome reduce marital satisfaction in couples?

Yes. The worse a woman's PMS symptoms, the lower marital satisfaction tends to be for both partners. However, we cannot tell if PMS causes lower satisfaction or lower satisfaction makes PMS feel worse.

Moderate study design 240 couples in Kerman, Iran (women avg age 32.4 years, men avg age 35.5 years)

What they did

Cross-sectional study of 240 couples in Kerman, Iran in 2016. Both the woman and man in each couple filled out questionnaires about her PMS symptoms and their marital satisfaction.

What they found

Women's average marital satisfaction score was 114.97 and men's average was 125.25. As PMS symptoms got more severe, both partners reported lower marital satisfaction. There was a clear inverse relationship between increasing PMS severity and decreasing satisfaction.

What it means for you

Worse PMS may be linked to lower marital satisfaction in both partners. The main limit is that this cross-sectional study was done in one city in Iran, so we cannot tell cause from effect, and results may not apply to couples in other places or cultures.

240

couples in study

114.97

women's marital satisfaction score (average)

125.25

men's marital satisfaction score (average)

About the study

Original title
The Relationship between the Intensity of Premenstrual Syndrome Symptoms and Marital Satisfaction among the Couples of Kerman City
Authors
Faramarz Shaahmadi, Ehsan Movahed, Sarallah Shojaei et al.
Journal
Journal of Research Development in Nursing and Midwifery
Year
2018
Study design
Survey study
What was tested
None - no intervention was tested
Open access
Yes

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