Modeling symptoms of premenstrual syndrome based on perceived stress: The mediating role of emotion regulation and sleep quality in students

The present study aimed to model the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome based on perceived stress with the mediating role of emotion regulation and sleep quality in female students. The research method was a descriptive correlation of the path analysis type and structural equation model. The statistical population of this study was the female students of Rasht Islamic Azad University in 2022. In this study, 250 people participated in an online survey in an accessible way. To collect data, the Perceived Stress Questionnaire (PSS; Cohen et al., 1983), Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ; Gross & John., 2003), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI; Buysse et al., 1989), and Premenstrual Symptoms Screening Tool (PSST; Steiner et al., 2003) were used. To analyze the data, the path analysis method was used. Based on the findings, the proposed model had a good fit. The direct effect of perceived stress on reappraisal, suppression, sleep quality, and premenstrual syndrome was significant. Also, the direct effect of sleep quality on premenstrual syndrome was significant. The results showed that only the mediating role of sleep quality in the relationship between stress and premenstrual syndromes was significant (P<0.05); In fact, sleep quality had a mediating role in the relationship between stress and PMS. Based on this, it can be concluded that stress had an effective role in the increase of premenstrual syndrome both directly and due to its effect on the quality of sleep.