Survey study, 2013
Does moving to college worsen PMS symptoms?
Yes. Women who recently moved to college hostels had significantly higher PMS symptoms than when they lived at home. Women who had lived in hostels for over a year had lower symptom scores, suggesting adaptation.
What they did
Cross-sectional study comparing 100 recent college hostel residents with 100 women living in hostels for over a year. Participants self-reported PMS symptoms on a severity scale (1=mild, 2=moderate, 3=severe) in two categories: physical and psychological symptoms.
What they found
The group who recently moved had significantly higher total physical and psychological symptom scores while living in the hostel (10.48) compared to at home. The group resident for over a year had lower scores, suggesting symptoms improve with time.
What it means for you
Moving away from home and starting college may temporarily worsen PMS symptoms, possibly due to stress or lifestyle changes. Symptoms appear to improve as students adapt. The study is cross-sectional and relies on self-reporting.
100
recent hostel residents (study group)
100
residents for over 1 year (control group)
10.48
symptom score while living in hostel
About the study
- Original title
- Influence of change of place on premenstrual symptoms in young college women
- Authors
- K Anjana, Subbalakshmi Nk, Sheila R Pai
- Journal
- International Journal of Biomedical and Advance Research
- Year
- 2013
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 100
- What was tested
- None - observational study
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.7439/ijbar.v4i3.255
Original abstract
Background :Symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) are common in young college students. But factors associated with severity of PMS in them is lacking. Objective: To study the effect of migration from home - town to a distant place on severity of PMS symptoms in residents of ladies hostels. Methods:100 recent inmates of ladies hostels were study subjects. 100 age matched inmates of ladies hostels who were residing there for more than one year were controls. This was a questionnaire based study in which participants self-reported on PMS symptoms. Study group self-reported on symptoms at home and variation in severity of these symptoms immediately after started to reside in the hostels. Control group reported on severity of symptoms on two consecutive months while residing in the hostels. Each of the symptoms were assigned scores based on the severity (1= mild; 2=moderate; 3=severe). Total scores of all the symptoms for each subject were done under two major categories namely physical and psychological. Result: In the study group the total score of physical and psychological symptoms of PMS were significantly higher while residing in the hostel compared to living at home ( 10.48
Reproduced under CC-BY.
Topics
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