Menstrual discomfort, psychological defenses, and feminine identification

Theorists have suggested that menstrual complaints occur more frequently in women who have a weaker sense of feminine identification. To test this hypothesis 50 women were administered the Body Symptom Questionnaire and the Defense Mechanisms Inventory (DMI). The DMI scales have been linked to differences in sexual identification. Results affirmed a relationship between personality dynamics and the degree of menstrual discomfort experienced by women relative to their other body problems. As predicted, the higher the percentage of menstrual symptoms, the more likely it was that a woman made use of "masculine mode" externalizing defenses and the less apt she was to use "feminine mode" non-externalizing defenses. A composite index of the tendency to externalize hostility when faced with conflict was highly correlated with the percentage of menstrual complaints. The defense pattern findings suggest that a woman who has a strong acceptance of herself as a female will experience fewer of her somatic symptoms as menstrual.