Relationships among Menstrual Attitude, Premenstrual Distress, and Premenstrual Coping in Korean College Women

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: This paper presented a descriptive study which aimed to identify the relationship among menstrual attitude, premenstrual distress and premenstrual coping in Korean college women and to propose fundamental data for the development of guidelines for effective management of premenstrual distress. METHODS: The data were collected from 111 college women and analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-tests, ANOVA and Pearson's correlation coefficients. RESULTS: The mean score of premenstrual coping was 3.25±0.60 out of 5 points. The ‘Awareness and Acceptance of Premenstrual Change’ score was highest and the ‘Avoiding Harm’ score was lowest. Menstrual attitude was significantly related to premenstrual distress (r=.37 p<.001) and the awareness and acceptance style of premenstrual coping (r=-.21. p=.021). And premenstrual distress was significantly related to the self-care coping style of premenstrual coping (r=.30, p=.001), the adjusting energy coping style of premenstrual coping (r=.45, p<.001) and the avoiding harm coping style of premenstrual coping (r=.48, p<.001). CONCLUSION: Results of this study support that positive attitude about menstruation is necessary for the effective management of premenstrual distress. Also, premenstrual coping programs that consider the level of premenstrual distress will be needed for college women.