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Epidemiology of Adolescent Dysmenorrhea
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1981
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Dysmenorrhea is the leading cause of short‑term school absenteeism among adolescent girls, yet the relative contributions of psychological versus biological factors remain controversial. The authors analyzed data from 2,699 12‑ to 17‑year‑old girls in the National Health Examination Survey using bivariate and multivariate techniques to assess biological, psychological, and demographic correlates of dysmenorrhea. Among 1,611 adolescents reporting dysmenorrhea, 14% frequently missed school; the strongest predictor of school absence was gynecologic/postmenarcheal age, while psychological preparation was not predictive; socioeconomic status correlated positively with dysmenorrhea, and black students missed more school than white students even after controlling for SES, indicating that biological variables play a substantial role.
Dysmenorrhea is the leading cause of recurrent short-term school absenteeism among adolescent girls. Controversy surrounds the relative role of psychologic and biologic variables in the pathogenesis of dysmenorrhea. Therefore, data from 2,699 menarcheal adolescents, drawn from a national probability sample of 12- to 17-year-old girls (the National Health Examination Survey), were analyzed by bivariate and multivariate analytic techniques for biologic, psychologic, and demographic correlates of dysmenorrhea. Of 1,611 adolescents (59.7%) who report dysmenorrhea, 14% frequently miss school because of cramps. The greatest proportion of variation of independent variables in a stepwise multiple regression analysis in this study was predicted by gynecologic or postmenarcheal age. Preparation for menarche, a psychologic variable, did not predict either dysmenorrhea or subsequent school absence. Socioeconomic status was positively correlated with dysmenorrhea although race was not. However, black students (23.6%) miss more school because of dysmenorrhea than white students (12.3%) even when socioeconomic status is held constant. Data in this study suggest that biologic variables play a substantial role in the pathogenesis of dysmenorrhea.