Abstract
Objective
To investigate the relationships between menarcheal timing and both menarcheal experience
and attitudes toward menstruation in Mexican girls.
Design
Cross-sectional survey.
Settings
Sample of adolescents attending 10 different public schools.
Participants
Mexican postmenarcheal adolescents, aged 11-16 years.
Intervention
Participants answered 1 questionnaire about menarcheal experience and another about
attitudes towards menstruation.
Results
Early maturers (menarche before 11 years) were more likely than average (menarche
at 11 or 12 years) or late maturers (menarche at 13 or more years) to state they had
not known what they should do at the moment they got their first period (P < .01), that they had not felt prepared to start menstruating (P < .05), and that they thought they must keep secret the fact of already having had
their first period (P < .05). Concerning their emotional reactions to menarche, early maturers were the
most likely to have felt scared (P < .05), worried (P < .05) and sad (P < .05) and were the least likely to have felt calm (P < .05). They were also the most likely to show current secretive attitudes towards
menstruation (P < .01). Finally, late maturers showed more positive attitudes toward menstruation
than their peers (P < .01).
Conclusions
These results could be useful for developing resources to help early maturing girls
manage menstruation. Since these girls have limited or in some cases no time for preparation,
they need special support.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 15, 2013
Footnotes
The authors indicate no conflicts of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
