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PMS as a culture-bound syndrome
... Using the word "symptom" and naming the clustering of "symptoms" as a "syndrome" is problematic. These terms prime girls to associate these experiences with illness (Chrisler 1996). The assertion that these "symptoms" do not indicate illness or disease contradicts common usage of these terms and is confusing. ...
... To replace the notion that PMS with its cluster of negative symptomatology is inevitable, we advocate following Chrisler's (1996) suggestion that potential menstrual-related experiences be articulated as changes instead of symptoms to avoid embedding menstruation within the context of illness. Positive premenstrual changes, which have been noted (King and Ussher 2012), can also be mentioned. ...
... Differences in the prevalence of PMS may also be explained by community-adopted practices before and during menstruation [32], as well as differences in study methodology such as controls for confounding variables [33], methods of assessment, and independent variables. Further, variability in reported prevalence of PMS across cultures may also be accounted for by differences in the social meaning or construction of particular embodied and psychological experiences as a disorder associated with the reproductive body [34,35]. ...
... A qualitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for specific food groups/items was also used. The FFQ included foods with plausible effects on PMS as reported by Cheng et al. (2013) [22], and other published research [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39]. These included: starchy foods (e.g., bread, rice, pasta, pastries), milk and dairy products, caffeinated beverages (e.g., coffee, tea, energy drinks), leafy green vegetables (e.g., parsley, coriander, spinach, collard, Swiss chard), cruciferous vegetables (e.g., broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts), other non-starchy vegetables (e.g., tomato, cucumber, bell peppers, green beans), fruit (e.g., bananas, apples, citrus fruit, melons, grapes), animal foods (e.g., red meats, poultry, fish, shrimp), herbal teas (e.g., cinnamon, black and green tea, sage, peppermint, thyme, ginger, chamomile) and high calorie/fat/sugar/salt foods that contribute high calories but have little nutritional value, e.g., high fat, sugar, and/or salt foods, fried foods, high-fat dairy products, eggs, refined grains, potatoes, corn and high-fructose corn syrup, and high-sugar drinks). ...
Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a cyclical late luteal phase disorder of the menstrual cycle whereby the daily functioning of women is affected by emotional and physical symptoms substantially interfering with their quality of life. Little is known about PMS in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This study aimed to determine the prevalence and severity of PMS among university students in Sharjah, UAE, and clarify its associations with dietary habits, lifestyle behaviors, and anthropometric factors. A cross-sectional study was conducted on female college students at the University of Sharjah, UAE. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires and anthropometric assessments. Descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression analyses were performed. Participants were 300 adult university students aged 18-24 years (mean age 20.07 ± 1.53 years). In total, 95% of participants reported at least one PMS symptom during their menstrual period. The prevalence of PMS was 35.3%, with mild symptoms being the most commonly reported. Multiple regression analysis showed that smoking was associated with increased risk of reporting psychological (OR 2.5, 95% CI 1.1-5.8; p < 0.05) and behavioral symptoms (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.0-4.9; p < 0.05), while high calorie/fat/sugar/salt foods intake was associated with increased risk of reporting physical symptoms (OR 3.2, 95% CI 1.4-7.3; p < 0.05). However, fruit consumption (OR 0.34, 95% CI 0.125-0.92; p < 0.05) was associated with a decreased risk of reporting behavioral symptoms. A high prevalence of PMS was reported among university students, with smoking and high calorie/fat/sugar/salt food consumption identified as strong risk factors for PMS.
... Differences in the prevalence of PMS may also be explained by community-adopted practices before and during menstruation [32], as well as differences in study methodology such as controls for confounding variables [33], methods of assessment, and independent variables. Further, variability in reported prevalence of PMS across cultures may also be accounted for by differences in the social meaning or construction of particular embodied and psychological experiences as a disorder associated with the reproductive body [34,35]. ...
... A qualitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for specific food groups/items was also used. The FFQ included foods with plausible effects on PMS as reported by Cheng et al. (2013) [22], and other published research [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39]. These included: starchy foods (e.g., bread, rice, pasta, pastries), milk and dairy products, caffeinated beverages (e.g., coffee, tea, energy drinks), leafy green vegetables (e.g., parsley, coriander, spinach, collard, Swiss chard), cruciferous vegetables (e.g., broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts), other non-starchy vegetables (e.g., tomato, cucumber, bell peppers, green beans), fruit (e.g., bananas, apples, citrus fruit, melons, grapes), animal foods (e.g., red meats, poultry, fish, shrimp), herbal teas (e.g., cinnamon, black and green tea, sage, peppermint, thyme, ginger, chamomile) and high calorie/fat/sugar/salt foods that contribute high calories but have little nutritional value, e.g., high fat, sugar, and/or salt foods, fried foods, high-fat dairy products, eggs, refined grains, potatoes, corn and high-fructose corn syrup, and high-sugar drinks). ...
Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a cyclical late luteal phase disorder of the menstrual cycle whereby the daily functioning of women is affected by emotional and physical symptoms substantially interfering with their quality of life. Little is known about PMS in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This study aimed to determine the prevalence and severity of PMS among university students in Sharjah, UAE, and clarify its associations with dietary habits, lifestyle behaviors, and anthropometric factors. A cross-sectional study was conducted on female college students at the University of Sharjah, UAE. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires and anthropometric assessments. Descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression analyses were performed. Participants were 300 adult university students aged 18-24 years (mean age 20.07 ± 1.53 years). In total, 95% of participants reported at least one PMS symptom during their menstrual period. The prevalence of PMS was 35.3%, with mild symptoms being the most commonly reported. Multiple regression analysis showed that smoking was associated with increased risk of reporting psychological (OR 2.5, 95% CI 1.1-5.8; p < 0.05) and behavioral symptoms (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.0-4.9; p < 0.05), while high calorie/fat/sugar/salt foods intake was associated with increased risk of reporting physical symptoms (OR 3.2, 95% CI 1.4-7.3; p < 0.05). However, fruit consumption (OR 0.34, 95% CI 0.125-0.92; p < 0.05) was associated with a decreased risk of reporting behavioral symptoms. A high prevalence of PMS was reported among university students, with smoking and high calorie/fat/sugar/salt food consumption identified as strong risk factors for PMS.
... These terms pathologize women's "premenstrual" experiences with the PMS label and also place negative menstrual experiences in the context of disease. Such usage of terms has been found problematic and been challenged in the literature, especially considering that while many women do have negative menstrual experiences, it is not universal and "It's Not All Bad" (Chrisler, 1996;King & Ussher, 2012). As such, the term "negative menstrual experiences" has been suggested as a less-stigmatizing alternative to PMS and hence is adopted in this paper. ...
On average, women menstruate for approximately half of their lives. Little is known about whether and how health-related quality of life (HRQOL) differs across users of different types of menstrual products. To answer this question, this study collected data from 1,245 female university students in Taiwan through an anonymous online survey and compared users of different types of menstrual products in four HRQOL domains. Multivariate linear regression analysis revealed significant differences in all four domains. For instance, regarding physical health, tampon users reported better HRQOL (β = .054) than pad users; regarding social health, tampon (β = .059) and menstrual cup (β = .071) users both reported better HRQOL than pad users. Furthermore, factors influencing HRQOL also differed between pad and tampon users. For example, having many premenstrual symptoms affected both pad (β = -.115) and tampon (β = -.172) users’ physical HRQOL; while pad users with many premenstrual symptoms also had worse psychological (β = -.085), social (β = -.100), and environment (β = -.104) HRQOL, their tampon-using counterparts were not significantly affected. Bisexual tampon-using college women reported worse social HRQOL (β = -.149) than their heterosexual peers. In addition, relationship status and varsity team membership had differential significant associations with the four domains. Future menstrual health education could focus more on introducing the different features of various menstrual products. Our empirical findings can help empower women to make informed decisions about which menstrual products could best suit their needs and improve their HRQOL.
... Unfortunately, in many menstrual education materials, PMS is described as a cluster of negative symptoms along with the implication that these are to be expected (Stubbs, 2020), and such is the case in this game. These kinds of descriptions place menstrual-related changes in a disease model (see Chrisler, 1996), as does having to go to the Nurse's Office if players don't have appropriate protection (although I admit that this is a major way girls get supplies while in school). Further, positive premenstrual changes that have been documented by researchers (e.g., King & Ussher, 2012) are not part of the game. ...
... Feminist social constructionists have provided insight into the role of cultural discourse in the pathologization of the premenstrual woman (Chrisler, 2004), as outlined above. However, social constructionism has been criticized for ignoring the "real" (Speer, 2000), and marginalizing experience outside of the realm of language, in particular embodiment (Sims-Schouten, Riley, & Willig, 2007). ...
The body is central to women’s construction of premenstrual change as premenstrual syndrome (PMS), and to experiences of premenstrual distress. Embodied change, such as bloating or breast tenderness, can act as a marker of PMS. Within biomedical models, PMS is located within the body. Women’s dissatisfaction with their bodies is also reported to be higher in the premenstrual phase of the cycle. What is absent from this analysis is the meaning and experience of embodied change, in the context of broader constructions of femininity and embodiment. In this paper, we adopt a feminist material-discursive theoretical framework to examine the role of premenstrual embodiment in women’s premenstrual distress, drawing on open-ended survey responses and interviews with 83 women who self-diagnose as “PMS sufferers”. We theorize premenstrual body hatred as subjectification, wherein women take up cultural discourse associated with idealized femininity and the stigmatization of the fat body, resulting in self-objectification, distress and dehumanization. However, women can resist negative cultural constructions of premenstrual embodiment. We describe the impact of psychological therapy which increases awareness of emotional and embodied change, resulting in greater acceptance of the premenstrual body and self-care, serving to reduce premenstrual distress and self-objectification.
... The menstruation cycle is governed by hormones that vice and fall, influencing the various physical sensations and emotional change that women experiences for several days mostly before the menstruation and sometime during the first few days of the flow. Women's standing during a explicit society which society's cultural beliefs regarding women's bodies form women's attitudes toward and experiences with their expelling cycles [1,2] . Social psychologists have developed an outsized literature on the measurement of angles and techniques for attitude modification however they need been criticized for his or her basic cognitive process to such matters as however attitudes area unit shaped and therefore the social context during which they're shaped and maintained [3] . ...
The primary aim of the study was to compare the menstrual attitudes among physically active and non active female university students. A sample of 60 female students was purposively selected from Guru Nanak Dev University Amritsar. The subject's menstrual attitudes were measured with the help of Menstrual Attitude Questionnaire. Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated from the height and weight measurements of the subjects. Independent samples t-test revealed that the physically active females had significantly higher levels of menstrual attitudes (p=0.013) than the physically non active females. Keywords: Physically active females, physically inactive females, menstrual attitude, body mass index Introduction Menstruation cycle is the most natural and integral part of a women life. Periods do not only affect the psychological factor but also give affect on physiological aspects of a woman and environment also plays an important role on the Menstruation cycle of a woman health. The menstruation cycle is governed by hormones that vice and fall, influencing the various physical sensations and emotional change that women experiences for several days mostly before the menstruation and sometime during the first few days of the flow. Women's standing during a explicit society which society's cultural beliefs regarding women's bodies form women's attitudes toward and experiences with their expelling cycles [1, 2]. Social psychologists have developed an outsized literature on the measurement of angles and techniques for attitude modification however they need been criticized for his or her basic cognitive process to such matters as however attitudes area unit shaped and therefore the social context during which they're shaped and maintained [3]. Most of females there is a need for behavioural change so as to develop the right attitude for safeguarding menstrual health. It may also assist in acquiring skills for appropriate management of symptoms and to lead a normal active life [4]. It is often reported that, the way females perceive menstruation has an effect on their own body image, gender identity, self-acceptance, symptoms attribution sexual and health behavior [5, 6]. Generally, women dislike menstruation because of the related symptoms that includes, feeling of discomfort in tolerance at the sight of blood flow and the relative restrictive performances [7, 8]. However, ethnic differences are observed in the attitude towards menstruation. Attitudes and beliefs about menstruation are found to be either positive or negative, with the majority of the literature reporting that both men and women hold mostly negative attitudes towards menstruation [6]. These negative attitudes include feeling embarrassed, seeing menstruation as annoying, disabling and as having prescriptions (certain things that women should do while they are menstruating) and proscriptions (certain things that women should not do while they are menstruating). In western culture, women also tend to view monthly menstruations as disgusting or shameful and ensure that a level of secrecy surrounds menstruation. Furthermore, negative attitudes also include seeing menstruation as a monumental physical and psychological burden that women have to bear. For example, the belief that menstruation affects the performance of women may lead to a restriction of women's opportunities in society, and may also result in many women to detaching themselves from their responsibilities. This belief could be an important source of discrimination against women and a form of social control that could further affect women's attitudes towards menstruation negatively.
... Le fait que le TDPM soit plus fré quent dans les pays occidentaux pourrait remettre en doute toute pré tention d'une é tiologie purement biomé dicale, et vient é tayer l'hypothè se selon laquelle les é lé ments culturels et environnementaux jouent un rô le plus pré pondé rant que ce qu'affirme le DSM-5 [10,14,15,52]. Le fait que le TDPM soit lié aux enjeux culturels ne signifie point que le syndrome est de l'ordre de la fiction, mais plutôt qu'il a é té caté gorisé comme une dysfonction dans certaines cultures seulement [52]. ...
Résumé
Le trouble dysphorique prémenstruel (TDPM) est caractérisé par l’apparition de symptômes thymiques, physiques et comportementaux, survenant une semaine avant le début des menstruations. Depuis son inclusion dans les troubles dépressifs du DSM-5 en 2013 (la version la plus récente du Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders de l’American Psychiatric Association), la psychiatrie américaine lui confère le statut officiel de trouble mental. Il doit également être ajouté à la 11e version de la classification internationale des maladies (CIM-11) de l’Organisation mondiale de la santé qui sera publiée en 2017. Dans le présent article, la validité et la pertinence du trouble seront remises en question par une analyse de l’argumentaire des défenseurs et des opposants à l’inclusion du trouble dans les manuels diagnostiques. La symptomatologie du TDPM sera d’abord comparée à celle d’autres troubles mentaux, et les facteurs externes reliés au trouble, tels que les événements de vie et la culture, seront examinés. Ensuite, un survol des corrélats biologiques associés au TDPM, ainsi que des facteurs prédictifs (stabilité du TDPM et réponse au traitement médicamenteux), sera réalisé. Finalement, une synthèse critique des résultats de la littérature scientifique sera proposée. Dans la discussion qui s’ensuivra, nous préciserons que ces remises en question ne visent pas à invalider l’existence de l’ensemble des symptômes prémenstruels chez les femmes, mais bien la légitimité de leur inclusion en tant que « trouble » dans les manuels diagnostiques.
Social shame and stigma surround menstruation, which may compromise women’s health and rights in various contexts. Men’s attitudes are particularly important because men often hold positions of power that influence women’s experience. This study examined factors associated with menstrual attitudes, including heteronormative attitudes, sexism, and family influences. A cross-sectional Qualtrics panel survey (n = 802; aged 18–44; 50.8% female) was performed. We tested a revised menstrual attitudes scale based on items drawn from previously validated measures. Data were analyzed using a structural equation modeling framework. Factor analysis identified and confirmed a 5-factor model for menstrual attitudes. Men endorsed more negative attitudes toward menstruation than women; however, this difference was largely explained by factors other than gender in the structural equation model. After controlling for family and demographic characteristics, attitudes toward openness and secrecy surrounding menstruation were most strongly associated with gender role expectations and hostile sexism. Benevolent sexism was associated with finding menstruation debilitating, denying menstrual symptoms, and endorsing avoidance of activities during menstruation. Heteronormative and sexist attitudes were associated with more negative menstrual attitudes, while increased menstrual knowledge was associated with more positive menstrual attitudes. The difference in menstrual attitudes between males and females was explained largely by heteronormative attitudes and sexism. This suggests that attitudes toward menstruation are closely linked to social ideals about men and women.
In this article, we draw from a body of research in the last 20 years, our own included, to suggest a framework for thinking about how attitudes toward and experience with menstruation contribute to girls' and women's notions of what it means to be female, to be a woman. Building on the current relational framing of psychotherapy, that a cli-ent's conception of herself is tied to her efforts to connect with others, we argue that negative attitudes toward menstruation can cause females to be "disconnected" from one another. Taking a life span perspective, we discuss how adolescent girls receive mixed messages about menstruation , how college women reflect negative attitudes about menstruation, Margaret L. Stubbss is an independent scholar who is currently Research Associate at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing. She is studying the impact of acupuncture on hot flashes with Dr. Susan Cohen. Daryl Costos, a personality psychologist , is a lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Boston University where she teaches courses in psychology of women and research methods.
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