Doctoral Dissertations

Helen Smith

Date of Award

8-1994

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Education

Major Professor

Carol Kasworm

Committee Members

Teresa Hutchens, Sandra Thomas, Edward Roeske, Maria Peterson

Abstract

Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) affects millions of women, yet there has been little research on the psychological factors involved in the etiology of PMS symptomatology. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the psychological variables of anger, locus of control, and PMS in college age women. Subjects in the study were 72 female undergraduates in the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Human Ecology at the University of Tennessee who were between the ages of twenty and twenty-seven. Data collection occurred during the last thirty minutes of a class period. Each subject completed a Biographical Questionnaire, the Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control Scale, the Spielberger State Trait Anger Scale, the Framingham Anger Scale, and a Women's Health Questionnaire. The subjects were placed into a PMS {N=48) or a Non-PMS group (N=24) according to their responses to questions on the Women's Health Questionnaire (WHQ). The WHQ also incorporated questions which were related to stress, diet, and exercise. In addition, after debriefing the sample, the women were given an Additional Information Sheet asking them if they believed they had PMS, as well as to describe their family discussions of PMS and their perceptions of men's opinions on PMS. Independent two sample t-tests were utilized in the data analysis. Results of the study showed there to be no significant differences between the PMS and Non-PMS group on the variables of locus of control or anger expression. Ancillary findings revealed a high percentage of the subjects who believed that they had PMS (89%). Twenty-two percent of these women did not meet the criteria for PMS, indicating that self diagnosis of PMS is not always correct. In contrast, a negative self-report of PMS was suggested to be accurate; fully 100% of the subjects who believed they did not have PMS did not meet the criteria for Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD). The high percentage of women who met the criteria for PMS (67% of the sample) suggests that the viability of the DSM criteria is questionable. The PMS group perceived that they had a greater amount of stress in their lives than the Non-PMS group. The former exercised more but showed similar patterns in their dietary habits to the non-PMS group.

Download
Files over 3MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "save as..."

Share

COinS