IAHRW International Journal of Social Sciences Review

Shyla Thomas Puthusserry ¹, Clarissa F. Delariarte ²

Affiliations
1 Graduate School, University of Santo Tomas, PH
2 Graduate school, University of Santo Tomas Philippines, Department of Psychology, Far Eastern University Philippines, Department of Psychology, De La Salle University, PH

Abstract

The rapid progress of the COVID-19 pandemic is known as a period of psychological stress and can negatively affect the women's menstrual cycle and premenstrual symptoms severity. Young college students aged 18 to 24 are considered late adolescents or youth are the more vulnerable group affected with psychological disorders by the quick closures of universities. Studies reporting that stress is significantly related to the frequency and severity of premenstrual distress and quality of life remain questionable among young women. Therefore, we conducted a cross-sectional predictive research study to examine the relationship between premenstrual dysphoric disorder, which is the severe form of premenstrual syndrome, and quality of life among college students during the COVID- 19 pandemic living in the Karnataka region of South India. The respondents' demographic data, Premenstrual Symptom Screening Tool (Steiner et al., 2003) and World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-Bref) were used as assessment tools. The purposive sampling method was used for gathering the data, and 400 students participated in the study. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and regression analysis were done for the quantitative data analysis. The study's findings showed a strong negative correlation between premenstrual symptoms severity and quality of life, which was statistically significant (r=-.819; p=001). The current study also highlighted that premenstrual disorder was a strong predictor of poor quality of life among late adolescents (R2= .671; β=-.819). Identifying the growing impact of premenstrual dysphoric disorder on late adolescents' quality of life, these findings can be a foundation for a psychological intervention program to alleviate the issues as early as possible and to improve the quality of life of this target population.

Keywords

premenstrual dysphoric disorder, quality of life, and late adolescents

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