Relationship between Menstrual Distress and Sleep Disturbance in Middle-school Girls

Park, Se Yeong; Park, SoMi

doi:2018.24.4.392

Korean J Women Health Nurs > Volume 24(4); 2018 > Article

Original Article

Korean Journal of Women Health Nursing 2018;24(4):392-403.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4069/kjwhn.2018.24.4.392 Published online December 20, 2018.

Relationship between Menstrual Distress and Sleep Disturbance in Middle-school Girls

Se Yeong Park, SoMi Park

¹RN, Wonju Severance Christian Hospital, Wonju, Korea.
²Professor, Department of Nursing, Wonju College of Medicine, Yonsei University, Wonju, Korea. somi@yonsei.ac.kr

Abstract

PURPOSE
To identify factors associated with menstrual distress and characterize the relationship between menstrual distress and sleep disturbance in middle-school girls.
METHODS
Participants in this correlational study were 117 middle-school girls who were recruited through convenience sampling. Data were collected from March 2018 to April 2018 using self-reported structured questionnaires and analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 23.0. Factors associated with menstrual distress included physiological, psychological, and situational factors based on the theory of unpleasant symptoms.
RESULTS
Age of menarche (β=−.28, p < .001), amount of menstruation (β=.23, p=.004), lifestyle-related exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (β=.21, p=.027), and academic and peer-relationship stress (β=.19, p=.025) influenced menstrual distress, explaining 47.4% of the variance in this regression model. The relationship between menstrual distress and sleep disturbance was statistically significant. Sleep disturbance was increased 1.26 folds when dysmenorrhea score increased by one unit (OR=1.26, 95% CI: 1.01~1.58). However, parental support was not a significant moderating factor of sleep disturbance.
CONCLUSION
This study provides basis to develop an intervention strategy to alleviate menstrual discomfort in adolescents and improve their quality of sleep.

Key Words: Adolescent; Premenstrual syndrome; Dysmenorrhea; Sleep disorder