Impact of women's coping with premenstrual symptoms on dyadic adjustment and perceived social support: a cross-sectional study in Turkey.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the impact of women's coping with premenstrual symptoms on dyadic adjustment and perceived social support. DESIGN: The study was conducted with a descriptive and cross-sectional design between October 2023 and February 2024. SETTING: The following instruments were administered online: the personal information form, the premenstrual symptom screening tool, the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS), the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) and the premenstrual coping measure. PARTICIPANTS: The study was conducted with 395 women in Turkey. RESULTS: Overall, 58.5% of the women experienced mild premenstrual syndrome, including 9.6% with moderate/severe premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and 31.9% with probable premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). Among all participants, the mean scores for DAS and MSPSS were 113.05±20.52 and 63.51±15.13, respectively. Dyadic adjustment was significantly lower in women with probable PMDD compared with other groups (F=5.171, p=0.006). Dyadic satisfaction showed a positive correlation with 'avoiding harm' and 'self-care' subscales, but a negative correlation with 'adjusting energy'. Furthermore, perceived social support increased as scores for 'avoiding harm' (r=0.15, p=0.002), 'self-care' (r=0.18, p<0.001) and 'communicating' (r=0.30, p<0.001) subdimensions increased. CONCLUSIONS: Health professionals should consider routine screening for premenstrual syndrome and involving spouses or romantic partners in educational interventions to improve awareness of premenstrual symptoms and coping strategies.