THE RELATIONSHIP OF MENSTRUAL DISTRESS TO CRAVING FOR ALCOHOL IN ALCOHOLIC WOMEN.
Contributors: Rush University, College Of Nursing.
Published: 1984
Number of pages: 106
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: Purpose. A two-group, cross-sectional, field study was used to investigate the following questions: (1) What is the relationship between menstrual distress and craving for alcohol in alcoholic women? (2) What factors influences menstrual distress in alcoholic women? (3) Is there a difference in the degree of menstrual distress between alcoholic and nonalcoholic women?.

Methodology. A sample of 100 alcoholic women were selected from various inpatient, outpatient and halfway house alcoholic treatment facilities throughout the Chicago and Chicago suburban area. The study protocol involved 3 questionnaires: the Menstrual Distress Questionnaire, the Craving Experience Questionnaire and the Background Information Inventory. Pearson's Product Moment correlations, unbalanced one-way analyses of variance, one-tailed t-tests, and stepwise forward multiple regression were used to summarize the data. Significance was based on the 0.05 level.

Findings. A statistically significant relationship between menstrual distress and craving for alcohol was not found. Nor were there any differences as determined by both bivariate and multivariate analysis in the degree of menstrual distress among alcoholics in various age, income, educational and occupational groups. However, when the degree of menstrual distress between alcoholics and nonalcoholics was compared, statistically significant differences were found, the alcoholic women had more menstrual distress than the nonalcoholic women. When the effect of race was examined with respect to the differences in menstrual distress, nonblack, alcoholic women had a statistically significant higher degree of menstrual distress than nonblack, nonalcoholic women. No such differences were found for the black groups.

These findings suggest that menstrual distress is greater in alcoholic women than nonalcoholic women. It also appears that the effect of race also exerts an important influence on the experience of menstrual distress. It might be that menstrual distress is more important to our understanding of drinking behavior in nonblack women than it is in black women.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-03, Section: B, page: 0798.

Thesis (D.N.SC.)--RUSH UNIVERSITY, COLLEGE OF NURSING, 1984.

School code: 0591.