The Biopsychosocial Model: Menstrual Attitudes, Sources of Information, and Premenstrual Symptomatology among Mothers with and without PMS and Adolescent Daughters

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this study was to evaluate mothers diagnosed with or without PMS and their firstborn biological adolescent daughters in order to examine the relationship of menstrual attitudes and sources of information with premenstrual symptomatology. Findings of this study demonstrated that 79 percent of the daughters experienced premenstrual symptomatology if their mothers had PMS, whereas only 18 percent of the daughters experienced premenstrual symptomatology if their mothers did not have PMS. Results revealed significant differences in sources of menstrual information between the daughters of mothers with PMS and the daughters of mothers without PMS. Daughters of mothers without PMS reported elementary school, high school, and biology classes as a primary source of menstrual information, whereas daughters of mothers with PMS did not. Mothers with PMS viewed menstruation as debilitating and bothersome. Mothers without PMS viewed menstruation as a natural event and denied any effect of menstr...