Abstract
Background and Objective
Adolescent girls perceive menstruation as a negative experience, which can affect
adolescents’ physical and mental health. The aims of this study were to describe the
menstrual knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of adolescent girls in China and to
examine their association with psychological stress.
Design, Setting, Participants, Interventions, and Main Outcome Measures
A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1349 adolescent girls aged 11-14 years
in Changsha, China. Participants anonymously completed questionnaires that assessed
sociodemographic characteristics, menstrual knowledge and attitudes, dysmenorrhea
self-care behaviors, and perceived stress. One-way analysis of variance and Pearson
r correlation and multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to examine the
differences and associations among variables.
Results
The mean age of menarche was 11.70 (±0.82) years. A total of 1053/1349 (78.1%) of
girls had a knowledge of menstruation before menarche and their mothers were the main
source 931/1349 (69.0%) of their knowledge. More than half (53.4%) of adolescent girls
experienced different degrees of dysmenorrhea. The mother's education, family monthly
income, family type, and the girls' age, grade, menstrual status, age at menarche,
sanitary napkin change frequency, menstrual restrictions, and dysmenorrhea influenced
menstrual knowledge, attitudes, and practice. Psychological stress was affected by
age, grade, age at menarche, sanitary napkin change frequency, menstrual restrictions,
dysmenorrhea, and menstrual knowledge, attitudes, and practices.
Conclusion
Psychological stress management during menstruation should be a focus of health education
programs for adolescent girls. During adolescence, health care providers should not
only pay attention to the physical changes of adolescence girls, but also provide
stress management skills to help them cope with menstrual-related concerns.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 21, 2019
Footnotes
The authors indicate no conflicts of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. Published by Elsevier Inc.
