---
title: How common is premenstrual syndrome in teenagers and what predicts who develops it?
description: About 14% of 15-year-old girls had PMS. It was associated with current anxiety, inattention, and poor overall health, but childhood health was not predictive.
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/prevalence-and-correlates-of-the-premenstrual-syndrome-in-adolescence-1992/
---

- [Niyora](https://niyora.com/)
- [Research](https://niyora.com/research/)
- [Library](https://niyora.com/research/library/)
- How common is premenstrual syndrome in teenagers and what predicts who develops it?

Cohort study, 1992

# How common is premenstrual syndrome in teenagers and what predicts who develops it?

About 14% of 15-year-old girls had PMS. It was associated with current anxiety, inattention, and poor overall health, but childhood health was not predictive.

 Moderate study design

384 fifteen-year-old females in a longitudinal health study

## What they did

In a longitudinal study of health and development, 384 fifteen-year-old girls reported whether they experienced premenstrual syndrome symptoms. Researchers looked for associations with anxiety, attention problems, and perceived health.

## What they found

14% of the 384 girls were identified as having PMS. Among those with PMS, the syndrome was associated with self-reported anxiety, inattention, and poor health at age 15. However, how girls rated their health before adolescence did not predict who would develop PMS, and maternal ratings of their childhood mental and physical health also did not predict adolescent PMS.

## What it means for you

In teenagers, PMS is present in about 1 in 7 girls and appears linked to current mental health and wellbeing rather than childhood factors. The main limitation is that this is a single age group and relies on self-reported data, so we cannot determine cause and effect.

384

fifteen-year-old girls studied

14%

with premenstrual syndrome

## About the study

Original title Prevalence and correlates of the premenstrual syndrome in adolescence Authors Raja SN, Feehan M, Stanton WR et al. Journal Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Year 1992 Study design Cohort study What was tested None. This was observational. Read the paper [doi.org/10.1097/00004583-199209000-00003](https://doi.org/10.1097/00004583-199209000-00003)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Adolescents and young people](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-adolescents/)

Research tells you what helps on average. Niyora helps on the day it hits.

Calm down, see it another way, and decide what to say, with a PMS and PMDD app built by a doctor.

## Related studies

Randomised trial, 2026

Does aerobic or resistance exercise reduce anxiety in women with PMS?

Cohort study, 2025

How common is PMS in Chinese teenage girls, and what factors are linked to it?

Systematic review, 2025

Does alcohol use affect menstrual health in teenage girls?

Systematic review, 2025

Does teaching adolescent girls about their menstrual cycle and health help reduce period pain and PMS?

Randomised trial, 2024

Does curcumin-piperine combination improve antioxidant activity in women with PMS and period pain?

Systematic review, 2024

How common is premenstrual syndrome in Africa, and what factors increase the risk?

Ask AI about this page

Copy prompt

ChatGPT

↗

Claude

↗

Perplexity

↗

Google AI Mode

↗

Grok

↗
