Survey study, 2001
Do women's beliefs about PMS change how they remember their symptoms?
Women report more premenstrual symptoms when remembering them than when tracking them day by day. Women who believe PMS is very common are especially likely to exaggerate their remembered symptoms.
What they did
49 women completed a questionnaire about menstrual discomfort in two ways: once by remembering the past month, and once by tracking symptoms day by day. They were also asked what percentage of women they thought have PMS.
What they found
Women reported higher premenstrual symptoms on the memory questionnaire than on the daily tracking. 75% believed the majority of women have premenstrual changes. Among this group, those who also believed most women have PMS showed larger differences between their remembered and actual symptoms.
What it means for you
Memory of premenstrual symptoms is not reliable because beliefs and culture influence how women remember their symptoms. The main limitation is the small sample, so these findings may not apply to all women.
49
women studied
75%
believed majority of women have premenstrual changes
two ways
methods used to report symptoms (memory and daily tracking)
About the study
- Original title
- Women's beliefs about the prevalence of premenstrual syndrome and biases in recall of premenstrual changes
- Authors
- Marván ML, Cortés-Iniestra S
- Journal
- Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association
- Year
- 2001
- Study design
- Survey study
- What was tested
- None
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1037//0278-6133.20.4.276
Topics
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