Evaluation of Regulation Strategies and Traumatic Experiences as Factors Predicting the Severity of Premenstrual Syndrome

Background: The goal of the present study was to investigate the prediction of severity of premenstrual syndrome based on traumatic life experiences and adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies. Methods: this was a descriptive-correlational study. The participants included a total of 207 adolescent girls studying in the high schools of Shiraz selected through convenience sampling method. The Premenstrual Symptoms Screening Tool (PSST), the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ), and the Traumatic Experiences Checklist (TEC) were used to gather data. Means, standard deviations, Pearson correlation coefficient and regression analysis were used to analyze the data. Results: The results indicated a significant relationship between premenstrual syndrome and maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies, so that catastrophizing predicted 37% of the variance of premenstrual syndrome. In addition, there was a significant relationship between premenstrual syndrome and traumatic events, so that threat to life/bizarre punishment/intense pain as a traumatic event, predicted 34% of the variance of premenstrual syndrome. However, no significant association was found between premenstrual syndrome and adaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies. Conclusion: The results suggest that emotion regulation-based interventions and trainings can be useful in helping female students apply adaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies in coping with premenstrual syndrome.