Journal of A bnormal Psychology 1975, Vol. 84, No. 1, 59-65
Personality Factors Related to Reported Severity of Menstrual Distress Harrison G. Gough Institute of Personality Assessment and Research, University of California, Berkeley The Moos Menstrual Distress Questionnaire, reporting menstrual, premenstrual, and intermenstrual reactions, was given to 201 women. Factor analysis of a 24 X 24 matrix (eight scales for each period) identified symptoms at menstruation as the principal component. Estimates of scores on this criterion were attempted by means of regression, typological, and decision-tree analyses, using scales from the California Psychological Inventory and the Personal Values Abstract as predictors. Correlations between estimated and reported distress were .36 for the typology, .38 for the decision tree, and .41 for the regression equation. Although the three methods did not differ greatly in accuracy, they did appear to emphasize somewhat different configurations of personality variables. Follow-up study should seek more precise specification of these different patterns.
The menstrual cycle in women is the expression of a complex somatopsychic process involving hormonal, biochemical, and psychosocial elements in the form of expectations and cultural imperatives (cf. Benedek & Rubinstein, 1939a, 1939b). Periodicity has been noted in regard to impaired examination and school performance during menstrual and premenstrual days (Dalton, 1960a, 1968), an increase in rule infractions at school during menstruation (Dalton, 1960b), a heightened sense of affiliation and sexual responsiveness at ovulation (Luschen & Pierce, 1972), and an increase in accidents and suicide during premenstruation and menstruation (MacKinnon & MacKinnon, 1956). In general, psychological well-being appears to be highest during postmenstrual and intermenstrual periods, lowest during premenstrual and menstrual. Individual differences in these and other aspects of menstrual distress are significant and of obvious importance in diagnostic and therapeutic work. An excellent review of the literature on menstrual problems, particularly those occurring in the so-called
premenstrual syndrome (Frank, 1931), has been published by Parlee (1973). Significant individual variations have been observed, then, in both duration and severity of menstrual distress. An early psychometric study of dysmenorrhea, or painful menstruation( Herzberg, 1952), contrasted Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) clinical scale scores of 49 women reporting severe distress with 51 women reporting lesser upset. On four of the nine scales examined there were significant differences between the two samples: women reporting greater menstrual distress scored higher on Hypochondriasis, Depression, Psychopathic Deviate, and Psychasthenia. Mean scores on all four scales, however, fell within the range of normal variation on the MMPI, leading Herzberg to suggest that generalized rather than psychiatrically diagnosable personality disturbance should be inferred. Peskin (1968) analyzed data from 55 women in a continuing longitudinal study of normal growth and development, classifying his subjects as having short menstrual periods (four days or less), intermediate (five days), and long (six days or more). The number of subjects in each subgroup was 15, 17, and 11, respectively. From project files during adolescence, Q-sort descriptions were derived for each subject, using Block's (1961) California Q-deck. Among the 10 items found to differ-
Work on this study was supported by Grant NIHHD-06S89-03 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, U.S. Public Health Service. Requests for reprints should be sent to Harrison G. Gough, University of California, Institute of Personality Assessment and Research, 2240 Piedmont Avenue, Berkeley, California 94720.
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entiate the short-menstruation subgroup from other subjects were "is an interesting, arresting person," "tends to be rebellious and nonconforming," "characteristically pushes and tries to stretch limits," and "is personally charming." Among the 9 items found to differentiate the long-menstruation subgroup from other subjects were "is basically submissive," "is uncomfortable with uncertainties and complexities," and "favors conservative values in a variety of areas." The Femininity (Fe) scale (Gough, 1966) from the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) was also administered in Peskin's study. The short-menstruation group had a mean standard score of 48.7, compared to a mean of 57.7 for the long-menstruation group; this difference is significant at p < .05. The five-day subgroup had a mean Fe score of SI.6. The Fe scale, it should be mentioned, stresses nurturant, supportive, and deferent behavior at the high end, and initiating, decision-making, and action-oriented dispositions at the low. References to menstrual distress up to this point have invoked a more or less undifferentiated concept. It is clear that a syndrome of this kind may contain internal subsets of symptoms and responses. Moos (1968, 1969) has attempted to depict these subclusters, and has developed a valuable device for their assessment, called the Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MDQ, Moos, Note 1). Factor analyses of symptoms at menstrual, premenstrual, and intermenstrual periods led Moos to specify eight stable and recurrent elements: pain, disturbances of concentration, behavioral decrements, autonomic nervous system imbalance, water retention, negative affect, arousal, and perturbations of control. The MDQ lists 47 items, such as insomnia, headache, anxiety, and decrease in efficiency, which can be classified under the eight headings just cited. Responses for the most recent period, the week before, and the remainder of cycle are required. Numerical weights from 1 (no experience of symptom) through 3 (symptoms present, mild) to 6 (acute or partially disabling) are assigned by the respondent to each item. At the Institute of Personality Assessment and Research in Berkeley, I am conducting
a program of research on personality in relation to family planning, contraceptive preferences, and other issues in population (see Gough, 1973, 1974). Because of the encouraging findings with psychometric tools by Herzberg, Peskin, and others (e.g., Silbergeld, Brast, & Noble, 1971), and because of the availability of the Moos questionnaire, the problem of menstrual distress appeared to be an appropriate subject of study for this program. In addition to these substantive concerns, there are interesting methodological questions that could be examined in such an inquiry, namely the relative effectiveness of different methods of relating personality inventory measures to standing on a target variable such as menstrual distress. The empirical work reported below attempted to deal with both substantive and methodological issues. METHOD AND PROCEDURE The MDQ (Moos, Note 1) and the CPI (Gough, 1957) were administered to a sample of 201 women, and ISO subjects also took the Rotter (1966) Locusof-Control Scale and the Miller-Fisk Sexual Knowledge Questionnaire (Gough, 1974). Of the subjects, 116 were college students, tested in conjunction with required laboratory hours in introductory psychology courses, and 85 were married women from a project on family planning and population. Mean age for the students was 20.69 years, SD = 2.88; for the married subjects, 31.68 years and 4.9S. On the MDQ subjects rated their most recent menstrual, premenstrual, and intermenstrual periods. In addition to the eight scales for each period, a subtotal was also computed, giving nine scores for each of the three periods. Comparison of student and nonstudent subjects on these 27 variables showed 11 to differentiate significantly (p
Personality Factors Related to Reported Severity of Menstrual Distress Harrison G. Gough Institute of Personality Assessment and Research, University of California, Berkeley The Moos Menstrual Distress Questionnaire, reporting menstrual, premenstrual, and intermenstrual reactions, was given to 201 women. Factor analysis of a 24 X 24 matrix (eight scales for each period) identified symptoms at menstruation as the principal component. Estimates of scores on this criterion were attempted by means of regression, typological, and decision-tree analyses, using scales from the California Psychological Inventory and the Personal Values Abstract as predictors. Correlations between estimated and reported distress were .36 for the typology, .38 for the decision tree, and .41 for the regression equation. Although the three methods did not differ greatly in accuracy, they did appear to emphasize somewhat different configurations of personality variables. Follow-up study should seek more precise specification of these different patterns.
The menstrual cycle in women is the expression of a complex somatopsychic process involving hormonal, biochemical, and psychosocial elements in the form of expectations and cultural imperatives (cf. Benedek & Rubinstein, 1939a, 1939b). Periodicity has been noted in regard to impaired examination and school performance during menstrual and premenstrual days (Dalton, 1960a, 1968), an increase in rule infractions at school during menstruation (Dalton, 1960b), a heightened sense of affiliation and sexual responsiveness at ovulation (Luschen & Pierce, 1972), and an increase in accidents and suicide during premenstruation and menstruation (MacKinnon & MacKinnon, 1956). In general, psychological well-being appears to be highest during postmenstrual and intermenstrual periods, lowest during premenstrual and menstrual. Individual differences in these and other aspects of menstrual distress are significant and of obvious importance in diagnostic and therapeutic work. An excellent review of the literature on menstrual problems, particularly those occurring in the so-called
premenstrual syndrome (Frank, 1931), has been published by Parlee (1973). Significant individual variations have been observed, then, in both duration and severity of menstrual distress. An early psychometric study of dysmenorrhea, or painful menstruation( Herzberg, 1952), contrasted Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) clinical scale scores of 49 women reporting severe distress with 51 women reporting lesser upset. On four of the nine scales examined there were significant differences between the two samples: women reporting greater menstrual distress scored higher on Hypochondriasis, Depression, Psychopathic Deviate, and Psychasthenia. Mean scores on all four scales, however, fell within the range of normal variation on the MMPI, leading Herzberg to suggest that generalized rather than psychiatrically diagnosable personality disturbance should be inferred. Peskin (1968) analyzed data from 55 women in a continuing longitudinal study of normal growth and development, classifying his subjects as having short menstrual periods (four days or less), intermediate (five days), and long (six days or more). The number of subjects in each subgroup was 15, 17, and 11, respectively. From project files during adolescence, Q-sort descriptions were derived for each subject, using Block's (1961) California Q-deck. Among the 10 items found to differ-
Work on this study was supported by Grant NIHHD-06S89-03 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, U.S. Public Health Service. Requests for reprints should be sent to Harrison G. Gough, University of California, Institute of Personality Assessment and Research, 2240 Piedmont Avenue, Berkeley, California 94720.
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entiate the short-menstruation subgroup from other subjects were "is an interesting, arresting person," "tends to be rebellious and nonconforming," "characteristically pushes and tries to stretch limits," and "is personally charming." Among the 9 items found to differentiate the long-menstruation subgroup from other subjects were "is basically submissive," "is uncomfortable with uncertainties and complexities," and "favors conservative values in a variety of areas." The Femininity (Fe) scale (Gough, 1966) from the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) was also administered in Peskin's study. The short-menstruation group had a mean standard score of 48.7, compared to a mean of 57.7 for the long-menstruation group; this difference is significant at p < .05. The five-day subgroup had a mean Fe score of SI.6. The Fe scale, it should be mentioned, stresses nurturant, supportive, and deferent behavior at the high end, and initiating, decision-making, and action-oriented dispositions at the low. References to menstrual distress up to this point have invoked a more or less undifferentiated concept. It is clear that a syndrome of this kind may contain internal subsets of symptoms and responses. Moos (1968, 1969) has attempted to depict these subclusters, and has developed a valuable device for their assessment, called the Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MDQ, Moos, Note 1). Factor analyses of symptoms at menstrual, premenstrual, and intermenstrual periods led Moos to specify eight stable and recurrent elements: pain, disturbances of concentration, behavioral decrements, autonomic nervous system imbalance, water retention, negative affect, arousal, and perturbations of control. The MDQ lists 47 items, such as insomnia, headache, anxiety, and decrease in efficiency, which can be classified under the eight headings just cited. Responses for the most recent period, the week before, and the remainder of cycle are required. Numerical weights from 1 (no experience of symptom) through 3 (symptoms present, mild) to 6 (acute or partially disabling) are assigned by the respondent to each item. At the Institute of Personality Assessment and Research in Berkeley, I am conducting
a program of research on personality in relation to family planning, contraceptive preferences, and other issues in population (see Gough, 1973, 1974). Because of the encouraging findings with psychometric tools by Herzberg, Peskin, and others (e.g., Silbergeld, Brast, & Noble, 1971), and because of the availability of the Moos questionnaire, the problem of menstrual distress appeared to be an appropriate subject of study for this program. In addition to these substantive concerns, there are interesting methodological questions that could be examined in such an inquiry, namely the relative effectiveness of different methods of relating personality inventory measures to standing on a target variable such as menstrual distress. The empirical work reported below attempted to deal with both substantive and methodological issues. METHOD AND PROCEDURE The MDQ (Moos, Note 1) and the CPI (Gough, 1957) were administered to a sample of 201 women, and ISO subjects also took the Rotter (1966) Locusof-Control Scale and the Miller-Fisk Sexual Knowledge Questionnaire (Gough, 1974). Of the subjects, 116 were college students, tested in conjunction with required laboratory hours in introductory psychology courses, and 85 were married women from a project on family planning and population. Mean age for the students was 20.69 years, SD = 2.88; for the married subjects, 31.68 years and 4.9S. On the MDQ subjects rated their most recent menstrual, premenstrual, and intermenstrual periods. In addition to the eight scales for each period, a subtotal was also computed, giving nine scores for each of the three periods. Comparison of student and nonstudent subjects on these 27 variables showed 11 to differentiate significantly (p
