Determining the association between Turkish women's menopausal symptoms and their marital adjustment

Aim: To determine the association between women's menopausal symptoms and their marital adjustment. Materials and methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 263 Turkish women chosen using an improbable randomized sampling method. A questionnaire, the Menopause Symptom Rating Scale (MSRS), and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) were used to collect data. Percentage distributions, the t-test in independent groups, the one-way ANOVA test, Pearson correlation analysis, and the Kruskal-Wallis test were used in the evaluation of the data. Results: The mean of the overall MSRS score for women was 22.67 +/- 8.06 and the mean of the overall DAS score for women was 105.93 +/- 16.60. There was a significantly negative relationship between menopausal symptoms and marital adjustment (r: -0.357, P < 0.001), while the differences between MSRS total point averages according to women's age at marriage and total number of pregnancies were found to be statistically significant (P < 0.05). According to the comparison of the subscale mean score and the overall mean score obtained from the MSRS and DAS based on how women entered menopause, the difference between groups was statistically significant (P < 0.05, P < 0.001). Conclusion: The level of marital adjustment decreased in line with the increase in menopausal symptoms suffered by women. It was determined that women whose age at marriage was 20 and over, according to MSRS total point averages, suffered from menopausal symptoms less. It was seen that women who had 6 or more pregnancies had more menopausal complaints. Women who entered menopause due to surgery experienced more menopausal complaints than those who entered menopause naturally, and women who entered menopause due to surgery had a better level of marital adaptation.