Development of a New Scale to Measure Beliefs about and Attitudes Toward Menstruation (BATM): Data from Mexico and the United States

Abstract

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.

Menstruation During a Lifespan: A Qualitative Study of Women's Experiences

“…Many previous researchers have focused on specific perspectives of menstruation, like the experience of menarche (Fingerson, 2005;Lee, 2009;Orringer & Gahagan, 2010), menstrual education (Amaral, 2011;Beausang & Razor, 2000;Rembeck & Hermansson, 2008), menstrual symptoms (Johnston-Robledo et al, 2003;Santer et al, 2003;O'Flynn, 2006) or been based on beliefs about and attitudes towards menstruation (Marván, Ramírez-Esparza, Cortés-Iniestra & Chrisler, 2006). Our results, based on women's narratives, reveal the complexity surrounding menstruation as being an experience unique to each woman.…”

“…Therefore, health professionals need to be aware of the significance that menstruation has for menstruating women. We have found surprisingly few studies focusing on menstruation from a natural perspective (Burrows & Johnson, 2005;Fingerson, 2005;Marván et al, 2006). If midwives or other health professionals are not able to look upon menstruation from a natural perspective or do not see menstruation as a part of female identity, it might be more difficult for them to support women through their unique and individual experiences of menstruation.…”

The Experience of Chronic Illness in Women: A Comparison Between Women with Endometriosis and Women with Chronic Migraine Headaches

“…The Beliefs about and Attitudes toward Menstruation Questionnaire (BATM) (Marvan, Ramirez-Esparza, Cortes-Iniestra, & Chrisler, 2006) was used to assess women's attitudes toward menstruation. This scale…”

Attitudes toward menstrual suppression and conformity to feminine norms in young and middle-aged Mexican women

“…The only significant difference between both samples was that Mexicans were more likely to view menstruation as having proscriptions and prescriptions than Americans [12]. Roselló-Soberó n et al [13] conducted another study with Mexican women with different educational and income levels.…”