(PS10-97) Menstruation Pain Severity and Emotional Symptoms Are Associated with Greater Life Interference Among Emerging Adults

Dysmenorrhea, or menstruation-related pain, is prevalent among menstruating individuals, with a large economic, educational, and mental health burden worldwide. Despite its prevalence and impact, dysmenorrhea remains understudied. Emerging adulthood is a unique developmental period when late adolescents acquire skills and self-understanding to transition to adulthood; persistent pain during this period has deleterious impacts to social, educational, occupational, and mental health functioning in adulthood. Therefore, emerging adults (EA) are an important population in which to examine experiences and impacts of menstruation pain. We hypothesized that dysmenorrhea severity and emotional symptoms during painful menstruation would be individually associated with greater interference in functioning, and that interference would be greatest among those with higher levels of both. University students assigned female at birth (N = 430, n = 11 gender non-conforming, M_age= 18.68 years) who menstruated in the last three months completed an online study of menstrual health. Participants rated their dysmenorrhea severity and the extent to which pain interfered with (a) daily living, (b) recreational, social & family activities, and (c) work on 0-10 numerical rating scales. Participants also reported whether they felt angry/irritable, restless/anxious, depressed/sad, or socially embarrassed during painful menstruation. Associations between dysmenorrhea severity, number of emotional symptoms, and each interference variable were tested using bivariate correlations. Associations between the hypothesized dysmenorrhea severity x emotional symptoms interaction and each interference variable were tested using separate conditional effects models (PROCESS Macro). Most participants reported dysmenorrhea in the past 3 months (90.5%; 10.7% reported being diagnosed with a gynecological disorder), at least one emotional symptom (91.5%), and that dysmenorrhea interfered with their daily functioning (82.1%). Dysmenorrhea severity and number of emotional symptoms were each positively correlated with all interference variables (all rs 0.27-0.67, ps = < .001). The dysmenorrhea x emotional symptom interaction term was not significant in any conditional effects model (all ps > .142). However, the main effects of both dysmenorrhea and number of emotional symptoms remained significant, such that each was positively associated with greater interference in daily living (b=.58, p < .001; b = .25, p = .001, respectively), interference with recreational, social and family activities (b = .52, p < .001, b = .17; p = .045, respectively), and interference with ability to work (b = .53, p < .001; b = .27, p < .001, respectively). Taken together, these results highlight the prevalence of dysmenorrhea and the related psychosocial burdens experienced by EA who menstruate. Future research should seek to identify modifiable protective factors that could be addressed in psychosocial interventions to promote functioning among EA with dysmenorrhea.