Beliefs About and Attitudes Toward Menstruation Among Young and Middle-Aged Mexicans

Abstract

One hundred and twenty-one Mexican college students and 100 middle-aged Mexicans completed a questionnaire concerning beliefs about and attitudes toward menstruation. Younger people, both men and women, viewed menstruation as requiring less secrecy than did the middle-aged people. Younger women were less likely than older women to view menstruation as having proscriptions and prescriptions. However, younger men were more likely than older men to view menstruation as restricting, annoying, and disabling. Regarding gender, young men were more likely than young women to view menstruation as disabling and restricting. However, older men were less likely than older women to view menstruation as annoying and restricting. These findings are discussed in light of sociocultural differences between genders and age cohorts.Menstruation is a physiological phenomenon with multiple psychosocial elements that can have repercussions on how a woman experiences her own menstrual cycles. The cultural, social, and family environments in which people grow up have influence on their beliefs about and attitudes toward menstruation. In fact, there are several differences in attitudes toward menstruation that have been documented in women from different countries. Anson (1999) demonstrated that the attitudes toward menstruation of Israeli, North American, Indian, and Australian undergraduate students do differ from each other; Israeli women perceived menstruation as the most debilitating and bothersome. In a more recent study, it was shown that Indian women college students viewed menstruation as more natural than did American women students, and they also denied the effects of menstruation more than did American women. On the other hand, American women viewed menstruation as more debilitating than did Indian women (Hoerster, Chrisler, & Rose, 2003). Finally, another recent study shows important differences in specific aspects of attitudes toward menstruation between British and Indian undergraduates. British women showed greater agreement with items about premenstrual physical and mood changes, whereas Indian women showed greater agreement with the idea that women are more tired than usual and not expecting so much of themselves while menstruating (Bramwell, Biswas, & Anderson, 2002).Moreover, there are also differences in the attitudes toward menstruation of subcultural groups even within largely homogeneous cultures. In Western societies, such as the United States, studies conducted in the 1980s showed differences in attitudes toward menstruation that were related to gender and age. In these studies (Brooks-Gunn & Ruble, 1986;Chrisler, 1988), men were more likely than women to view menstruation as debilitating, but women were more likely than men to view it as bothersome. College students were more likely 273

Menarche and Menstruation Through the Eyes of Pubescent Students in Eastern Taiwan

“…The belief in the debilitating effect of menstruation has been studied in the West (Marvan et al, 2005). Researchers found that girls who received their education largely from male sources considered menstruation to be more debilitating and negative than girls who received their education from fewer male sources (Brooks-Gunn & Ruble, 1986).…”

“…Researchers found that girls who received their education largely from male sources considered menstruation to be more debilitating and negative than girls who received their education from fewer male sources (Brooks-Gunn & Ruble, 1986). From a psychoanalytic perspective, pubescent girls who think they are weak during their period may experience a loss of freedom, power, and autonomy and may, in turn, envy pubescent boys for their freedom and sense of control (Kissling, 1996;Marvan et al, 2005).…”

Attitudes and practices of school‐aged girls towards menstruation

“…The influence of friends, girls' self‐esteem and how girls feel about themselves were essential in shaping the girls' adaptation to menstruation 18 . Beliefs, perception and attitude towards menstruation and menarche are varied according to some socio‐cultural differences 17,20 . The inaccurate beliefs, negative attitude and confusions were related to lack of learning resources about menstruation 19 …”

“…Furthermore, when there is an open channel of communication between the daughters and their mothers, mothers become a primary source of menstruation knowledge to enhance their daughter's menstruation practices 21 . Inaccurate and inadequate preparation of girls for menstruation was related to illiterate mothers and their poor socio‐economic status 5,20,22 . Socio‐cultural restrictions and ignorance in providing adolescents with scientific and accurate information about menstruation may have led them to have unhealthy practices and consequently poor reproductive health outcomes 5 .…”

Study of psychological predictors and sleep quality in different grades of premenstrual syndrome

“…Literature also explains the influence of positive and negative attitude toward menstruation and its effect on physiological and psychological symptoms. [5,25] However, it is difficult to interpret this relationship, and there is an only limited study proving the same. Thus, it is individual's menstruation perception that predicts PMS symptoms as excess/exaggerated.…”