Menstrual cycle irregularity is a biological determinant of mental health independent of sleep in adolescents
Discuss this preprint
Start a discussion What are Sciety discussions?Listed in
This article is not in any list yet, why not save it to one of your lists.Abstract
INTRODUCTION
Sex differences in mental health emerge during adolescence, a period marked by the onset and the establishment of menstrual cycle. However, is rarely examined how menstrual cycle regularity, a marker of hormonal function, modulates mental health.
OBJECTIVE
to analyse sex differences in mental health symptoms among adolescents considering the menstrual cycle regularity and sleep.
METHODS
A three-group design (female students with regular cycles/FR, n=77; with irregular cycles/FI, n=59; and male students/M, n=76) in a sample of Brazilian high-school adolescents (n=212; 14–18 years) enrolled in morning and full-time classes was used to test the hypothesis that mental health symptoms follow a graded pattern across these groups.
RESULTS
Mean DASS-21 scores across all groups fell at or above the Mild severity threshold for mental health subscales. GLMs confirmed a monotonic gradient increase in group order (M→FR→FI) which was associated with higher scores on all outcomes (stress β/step=4.33, p<.001; anxiety β/step=4.08, p<.001; and depression β/step=2.34, p=.010; model R²=.16, .13, .08 respectively). However, no differences were observed in sleep duration, social jetlag, chronotype, sleep quality, or sleep-debt. Then, a secondary analysis assessed sex-specific associations between socioeconomic status (SES) and mental health; higher SES was inversely related to stress, anxiety, and depression, being protective only in males (stress Males β=−2.68, p=.011/Females β=0.46, p=.614).
CONCLUSION
These findings support the reframing of menstrual irregularity not only as a reproductive health concern but also as a biological determinant of mental health risk in female adolescents, a vulnerability that sleep disruption and socioeconomic resources do not adequately explain.
