Menstrual Irregularity and Menstrual Symptoms

Abstract

The authors examined whether women with irregular cycles showed more symptoms of menstrual distress than women with regular cycles. One hundred fourteen college women prospectively recorded the dates of 6 to 8 menstrual cycles and replied to a menstrual-symptoms questionnaire. The researchers cross-classified regularity and irregularity, by the women's self-definitions (questionnaire data) and by objective criteria (based on the respondents' prospective recordings of their menstrual data). The results showed that women with irregular cycles experienced twice as many menstrual symptoms as women with regular cycles. The use of a more valid criterion for menstrual irregularity revealed that women with irregular cycles suffered more menstrual distress than did women with regular cycles.

Key Words:

• cycle irregularity
• cycle regularity
• menstrual cycles
• menstrual symptoms

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Leonard Weller

Dr Aron Weller is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel, where Dr Leonard Weller is a professor in the Department of Sociology.