---
title: Do women with PMS experience more pain if their family members had pain problems?
description: Yes, for women with PMS. Those who had more family members with pain problems reported more frequent pain themselves, but this link was not seen in women with
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/the-role-of-familial-pain-models-in-premenstrual-symptomatology-1989/
---

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- Do women with PMS experience more pain if their family members had pain problems?

Survey study, 1989

# Do women with PMS experience more pain if their family members had pain problems?

Yes, for women with PMS. Those who had more family members with pain problems reported more frequent pain themselves, but this link was not seen in women without PMS.

 Early or limited evidence

11 women with PMS and 10 women without PMS.

## What they did

11 women with PMS and 10 women without PMS filled out a questionnaire about pain. The questionnaire included questions about whether their father, mother, or siblings had pain problems. Researchers looked at whether women who had more family members with pain problems reported more frequent pain themselves.

## What they found

For women with PMS, there was a clear link between the number of family members with pain problems and how often the woman reported experiencing pain. This link did not appear in women without PMS. Different family members (father, mother, or sibling) may have had different importance in this connection.

## What it means for you

Women with PMS may learn to experience or report more pain if they see family members with pain problems, though these findings are tentative. The main limits are the very small sample (only 11 PMS women and 10 controls) and it was studied in one location.

11

women with PMS

10

women without PMS

## About the study

Original title The Role of Familial Pain Models in Premenstrual Symptomatology Authors Andrzej R. Kuczmierczyk, Patrick W. Edwards Journal Scandinavian Journal of Behaviour Therapy Year 1989 Study design Survey study Read the paper [doi.org/10.1080/16506078909455849](https://doi.org/10.1080/16506078909455849)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Pain and headache](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-pain/)[Relationships and partners](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-relationships/)

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