No abstract

The present study investigated the relationship between women's beliefs about the prevalence of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and biases in recall of premenstrual changes. Forty-nine women completed the Moos Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (R. H. Moos, 1968) both retrospectively and prospectively. Afterward, they were asked about their beliefs concerning the prevalence of PMS. The women reported higher premenstrual changes when they completed the retrospective questionnaire. Seventy-five percent of the women believed that the majority of women have premenstrual changes. From this percentage, those who answered that the majority also experience PMS were more biased in their premenstrual changes in the retrospective assessment. Many women have a misperception about the meaning of PMS; consequently, they amplify their premenstrual changes in recall, reflecting women's cultural stereotypes rather than their actual experiences.

This study examined the influence of risk perception on stress reactions and coping strategies in 191 Mexican people who had experienced a catastrophe either natural (SR group) or industrial (IR group), and who are still exposed to the same kind of risks. Results showed that for the IR group and for people who rank industrial risks as the highest priority, from among a list of risks, the stress levels were higher and coping strategies were passive. There were significant correlations between feelings of insecurity and both stress level and passive coping strategies. The results demonstrate that risk perception is an important variable influencing both stress and coping responses in a catastrophe risk situation.

This article introduces the Beliefs about and Attitudes toward Menstruation Questionnaire (BATM). It is a 5-point Likert scale that was normed on 1,090 Mexican people of different ages and educational levels. In a second study data from 274 undergraduate students from Mexico and the United States were compared. Four factors emerged in both samples: secrecy, annoyance, proscriptions and prescriptions, and pleasant. Mexican students scored significantly higher than U.S. students on the Proscriptions and Prescriptions subscale. Men scored significantly higher on this subscale than women. Implications of these findings are discussed, as is the possible utility of the questionnaire for future research.