Impact of women's coping with premenstrual symptoms on dyadic adjustment and perceived social support: a cross-sectional study in Turkey.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the impact of women's coping with premenstrual symptoms on dyadic adjustment and perceived social support.

DESIGN

The study was conducted with a descriptive and cross-sectional design between October 2023 and February 2024.

SETTING

The following instruments were administered online: the personal information form, the premenstrual symptom screening tool, the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS), the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) and the premenstrual coping measure.

PARTICIPANTS

The study was conducted with 395 women in Turkey.

RESULTS

Overall, 58.5% of the women experienced mild premenstrual syndrome, including 9.6% with moderate/severe premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and 31.9% with probable premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). Among all participants, the mean scores for DAS and MSPSS were 113.05±20.52 and 63.51±15.13, respectively. Dyadic adjustment was significantly lower in women with probable PMDD compared with other groups (F=5.171, p=0.006). Dyadic satisfaction showed a positive correlation with 'avoiding harm' and 'self-care' subscales, but a negative correlation with 'adjusting energy'. Furthermore, perceived social support increased as scores for 'avoiding harm' (r=0.15, p=0.002), 'self-care' (r=0.18, p<0.001) and 'communicating' (r=0.30, p<0.001) subdimensions increased.

CONCLUSIONS

Health professionals should consider routine screening for premenstrual syndrome and involving spouses or romantic partners in educational interventions to improve awareness of premenstrual symptoms and coping strategies.