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Survey study, 2014

Do premenstrual symptoms relate to school stress?

Girls reported more symptoms at one point in their cycle, and school deadlines were linked to more symptoms during that time, suggesting stress and symptoms may be connected.

Early or limited evidence 60 adolescent girls at a secondary school in India

What they did

Researchers surveyed 60 adolescent girls at a secondary school in India. They asked about premenstrual symptoms, stress, and how many school assignments and projects they had due.

What they found

Girls reported more symptoms in the follicular phase (8.46) compared to the luteal phase (7.14). The number of school assignments and projects due during the follicular phase were linked to more symptoms and stress during that time.

What it means for you

Premenstrual symptoms may be linked to school stress and deadlines, with more symptoms during a particular part of the cycle. This was a small study in one school, so findings may not apply everywhere.

60

girls surveyed

8.46 vs 7.14

symptom scores in two cycle phases

About the study

Original title
Premenstrual Symptoms And Academic Performance Among Adolescent Girls
Authors
Pannuru Padmavathi, S. Sankar, N. Kokilavani
Journal
Asian Journal of Health Sciences
Year
2014
Study design
Survey study
Open access
Yes
Original abstract

Premenstrual syndrome is a psychophysiological stress induced disorder. Stress disturbs the balance of sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. Changes in heart rate and blood pressure are the most important physiological response following stress.To correlate the premenstrual symptoms and academic performance among adolescent girls. A correlational survey was adopted for the study Setting: Higher secondary school, NamakkalDistrict. 60adolescentgirlsfulfillingtheinclusioncriteriawereselectedbysimplerandomsamplingtechnique.Allparticipantsweregiven a questionnaire to complete; questions were related to Baseline Proforma of adolescent girls, rating scale on the common premenstrual symptoms, Student life stress Inventory, Academic Demand Distress were given 40 minutes to complete the questionnaire. The findings revealed that, there was significantly higher numbers of symptoms perceived 8.46±2.9 follicular and 7.14±2.8, luteal, p=.001 and higher distress (1.25±0.41 follicular and 1.52±0.31 luteal, p=.003) in the follicular phase than in the luteal phase. The academic demand component of academic stress measured daily frequency and distress associated with assignments, papers, projects/presentation and time studying. Within the follicular phase number of assignments due was significantly correlated to symptom perception and distress (.41, .31, respectively) and the number of projects/presentations due was correlated to symptom distress (.29) at p<.05. There were significant correlations between follicular phase symptom perception and distress, and luteal phase symptom distress with academic demand distress. There was significant correlation between premenstrual symptoms and academic performance.

Reproduced under CC-BY.

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