The relationship between stress levels and menstrual cycle regularity in students of the faculty of medicine, universitas kristen Indonesia, class of 2017

Abstract

The menstrual cycle is the distance between the first day of menstruation and the next menstruation. One of the factors that influence the menstrual cycle is stress. Stress stimulates the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal cortex axis to produce cortisol hormone. Cortisol hormone causes hormonal imbalance, including the reproductive hormones that affect the menstrual cycle. This study aimed to determine the relationship between stress levels and regularity of the menstrual cycle in female students of the Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Kristen Indonesia class of 2017. It was conducted in November 2018. It was an analytic survey that used a cross-sectional design. The sampling technique used purposive sampling to get 52 respondents following the specified criteria. The technique of collecting data used questionnaires MSSQ to measure the level of stress and questionnaires to determine the menstrual cycle. The analysis of data used the Chi-square test with a significance level of 0.05. The results showed that 35 to 52 respondents who experienced mild, moderate, and severe stress have a regular menstrual cycle (67.3%). The results of the analysis data obtained a p-value of 0.006, which indicated that there is a significant relationship between the stress level with the regular menstrual cycle in the female students of the Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Kristen Indonesia class of 2017. Keywords: stress level, menstrual cycle, stressor