Abstract
Study Objective
To evaluate the effect of menstrual pain duration and severity on education performance
and attitudes towards family and friends among Turkish female adolescents.
Design
Descriptive study.
Setting
26 high schools located in Erzurum, Northeastern Turkey.
Participants
A total of 1951 single female adolescents, aged 13 to 18 years, were selected for
this study.
Main Outcome Measures
The effect of dysmenorrhea on female adolescents' relationships with families and
friends and school performance.
Results
The prevalence of dysmenorrhea was high among female adolescents (68.1–72.2%). Pain
mostly lasted for one to three days (56.6%), followed by less than 1 day (23.5%) and
more than 4 days (14.9%), respectively. Several symptoms were observed including sweating,
appetite loss, headache, distraction, nausea/vomiting, dizziness, diarrhoea, and fainting.
School performance was negatively affected by dysmenorrhea. The main visible adverse
effects were an inability to focus on the courses, absenteeism from school, and missing
exams. One third of the subjects had problems with their families, and they reflected
their problems onto family members. This situation also negatively affected their
relationships with friends. Statistically significant correlations were observed between
pain duration and severity, and school performance (P < 0.0001), relationships with their families (P < 0.001) and friends (P < 0.0001).
Conclusions
Findings of this research suggested that dysmenorrhea prevalence was high among female
adolescents. The duration and intensity of pain adversely affected school and social
attitudes towards their families and friends.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 24, 2010
Identification
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© 2010 North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
