Indicators of psychological well-being in a sample of employed women: an exploratory study.

Abstract

Data collected from a sample of 633 healthy, nonpregnant women aged 21-44 was used to assess the relationship between the subjects' psychological well-being and their perception of the safety and reliability of their chosen fertility control method, their self-reported level of menstrual distress, their assessment of the typicalness of their menstrual distress, and various social characteristics of the subjects. The women were all employees of a university located in a large metropolitan area in the US. A structured questionnaire, including the standardized General Well-Being Schedule and the Moss Menstrual Distress Questionnaire, was used to collect the information. Chi-square and multiple correlation and regression techniques were used to analyze the data. Analysis of the subjects' scores on the General Well-Being Schedule indicated that 81 of the women were severely distressed, 115 were moderately distressed, and 385 were not distressed. There was no relationship between the scores and the type of fertility control method used by the women. There was an association between the type of birth control method and the subjects' perceptions of the safety of their chosen method. 81% of those who used IUDs considered the method safe, but only 50% of those who used oral contraceptives considered their method to be safe. Almost all of the women considered their method of fertility control to be reliable. When demographic variables were controlled, perceived safety and reliability of the subjects' fertility control methods accounted for only .4% of the observed variation in psychological well-being scores. The perceived severity of menstrual distress accounted for 2% of the variation in the psychological well-being scores. Women who thought their menstrual distress was more severe than that experienced by the average tended to have lower psychological well-being scores than women who perceived their menstrual distress as average. Differences in the perceived typicalness of menstrual distress accounted for 1% of the variance in psychological well-being scores. Women with no children or only 1 child had significantly lower well-being scores than women with 2 or more children; however, there was no relationship between the number of children living with the subject and the well-being scores. Women who said their menstrual cycle had no effect on their social relationships nor on their life in general had significantly higher well-being scores than women who said their menstrual cycle had an effect on their social relationships and on their life in general. Overall the findings suggest that women's perceptions of various reproductive factors may influence their psychological status and that reproductive factors may account for the findings of other studies which indicate that women have higher rates of mental illness and other forms of morbidity than men.