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Menstrual disorders are among the health problems that affect the largest population in the world. But their effects are often minimized, or even ignored. However, they can have serious repercussions, including on the academic success of young girls.
In any case, this is what is stated a study published on the pre-publication site medRxiv. Its authors found that abnormally painful and prolonged periods are linked to a significant drop in grades in the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), the equivalent of the certificate in the United Kingdom.
They came to this conclusion after analyzing data from more than 2,600 adolescent girls aged 13 to 16 from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. The young girls were questioned four times over a period of three years about the nature of their periods, that is to say the volume and duration of the bleeding as well as the intensity of the pain they felt.
The results show the extent to which menstruation-related disorders can disrupt the schooling of adolescent girls. Students who complain of heavy and/or prolonged bleeding during their periods miss an average of 1.7 days more of class per year than their asymptomatic peers. These absences have serious consequences. Indeed, researchers have noticed that these adolescent girls tend to do less well at GCSEs. Their score is on average 5.7 points lower than that of their peers who do not suffer from their periods.
Students suffering from painful periods are also penalized academically. They miss an average of 1.2 more days of school per year than those who experience little or no physical discomfort during their periods. Their GCSE grades are also 3.14 points lower than their peers.
These figures provide proof that “heavy or prolonged bleeding and menstrual pain are associated with a higher rate of absenteeism and a drop in academic achievement”, as we can read in the study. Researchers do not analyze in detail the mechanisms that would explain this phenomenon. But they believe that “menstrual anxiety and fear of leaking, feelings of shame and embarrassment due to period stigma, bullying, difficulty managing menstrual symptoms at school, as well as difficulty in “access to the toilets during classes” has a lot to do with it.
And that’s without counting menstrual insecurity. Scotland took a step towards curbing this public health problem in 2020, by requiring schools, colleges and universities across the country to make a range of period products available free of charge in their toilets.
Menstruation-related syndromes are complex to understand, given their great multiplicity. But it is essential that public authorities and scientific research take more interest in it to relieve the people concerned.