Case report, 1998
Does how women manage anger affect how bad their PMS gets?
No, not significantly. Women who coped with anger differently had similar PMS severity. But stress from work and family life was linked to worse PMS.
What they did
Researchers studied 38 women with an average age of 32. The women were divided into three groups based on PMS severity: 16 had mild symptoms, 10 had moderate, and 12 had severe. They gave them questionnaires about anger, anxiety, depression, and feelings about menstruation. They also asked women to keep daily records for 2 days before their period and 5 days after.
What they found
The three groups showed no clear differences in how they coped with anger. However, stress from work and family life was significantly linked to worse PMS. Women with severe symptoms were also more likely to tend toward expressing stress as physical symptoms, have negative attitudes toward menstruation, and have depressive mood.
What it means for you
Daily stress from work and family was more strongly linked to PMS severity than anger coping style. The study looked at existing patterns in women's lives, so we cannot say whether reducing stress would improve PMS. The small sample size is also a limitation.
38
women studied
32
average age
16
had mild PMS
About the study
- Original title
- [Coping with anger and the premenstrual syndrome]
- Authors
- Bergant AM, Guggenberger G, Heim K et al.
- Journal
- Wiener klinische Wochenschrift
- Year
- 1998
- Study design
- Case report
- Participants
- 16
- What was tested
- None
- Read the paper
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9654692/
Topics
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