title: Premenstrual syndrome and personality traits: a study on 110 pregnant patients.
abstract: Five specific personality traits (emotivity, acceptance of sexual role, parental aptness, anxiety and depression) have been analyzed for this study of the premenstrual syndrome (PMS), conducted on a group of 110 women in advanced (8th month) pregnancy. The comparison of the results from the personality tests and from the overall assessment of the PMS (82%) establishes definite correlations between the syndrome's intensity and the tendency toward a pathologic personality. A further correlation of each personality trait and of the PMS shows that the greater deviation from normalcy affects not only those women who suffer from a severe PMS, but also those who complain of no premenstrual symptoms at all. Such a finding (as shown in the results of a separate previous study by our group) allows to conclude that a psychological normalcy or balance finds its equivalent in an absence, but more often in a scarce presence of premenstrual complaints, while an absolute absence or a very marked intensity of these complaints should correspond to the more extreme degrees of personality disturbance.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D010551:Personality; D011247:Pregnancy; D011293:Premenstrual Syndrome / Q000523:psychology*