Case-control study, 2010
Do certain personality traits protect women from developing severe premenstrual syndrome symptoms?
In healthy women, higher novelty-seeking, self-directedness, cooperation, and self-transcendence, combined with lower harm avoidance, appear protective against developing severe symptoms during the luteal phase.
What they did
Researchers studied 40 healthy women with no psychiatric disorders or premenstrual dysphoric disorder. The women recorded their menstrual cycle symptoms for three consecutive cycles using a daily calendar. Researchers measured their personality using a standard personality test.
What they found
Women who reported more luteal phase symptoms scored significantly higher on personality scales for novelty-seeking, self-directedness, cooperation, and self-transcendence, and significantly lower on the harm avoidance scale. The authors interpret this pattern as protective, suggesting these personality traits may help prevent symptoms from becoming severe psychiatric problems.
What it means for you
Certain personality traits might help women cope with menstrual cycle symptoms and prevent them from becoming serious mental health problems. However, this study included only healthy women with no psychiatric disorder, so it's unclear how these findings apply to women with diagnosed PMS. The sample was also small.
40
women studied
3
consecutive menstrual cycles tracked
About the study
- Original title
- The possible protective role of personality dimensions against premenstrual syndrome
- Authors
- Telek T, Gonda X, Lazary J et al.
- Journal
- Psychiatry research
- Year
- 2010
- Study design
- Case-control study
- What was tested
- None (observational study)
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2009.02.014
Topics
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