Survey study, 1990
Does stress make PMS symptoms worse?
No. Stress accounted for only 6 to 10 percent of symptom changes. Individual women showed no link between how stressed they felt and how severe their PMS was.
What they did
Twenty-five women with severe PMS were followed for three consecutive menstrual cycles. They measured stress, mood, physical symptoms, and hormone levels every day.
What they found
Stress accounted for only 6% of unique variance in physical symptom scores and 10% of unique variance in mood scores across the menstrual cycle. In individual women, there was no association between the severity of symptoms and the cumulative daily stress reported during each cycle.
What it means for you
Stress does not explain why women get PMS. Even in women without other mental health conditions, more stressful days did not lead to worse PMS symptoms. This suggests PMS has biological causes beyond stress. However, this study only looked at women without other psychiatric disorders, so findings may not apply to all women.
25
women with severe PMS
3
consecutive menstrual cycles tracked
6%-10%
variance in symptoms explained by stress
About the study
- Original title
- The predictive role of psychosocial stress on symptom severity in premenstrual syndrome
- Authors
- Beck LE, Gevirtz R, Mortola JF
- Journal
- Psychosomatic medicine
- Year
- 1990
- Study design
- Survey study
- What was tested
- Daily measurement of stress, mood, physical symptoms, and hormone levels
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1097/00006842-199009000-00006
Topics
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