Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

Awards/Availabilty

Open Access Presidential Scholars Thesis

Keywords

Menstruation--Psychological aspects;

Abstract

The menstrual cycle is not only a physiological experience, it is also a psychological, social, and cultural one. However, the majority of the research on menstruation views the experience of menstruation via the medical model. Through this lens, menstruation is not a natural, healthy part of a woman's experience, but a pathology requiring diagnosis and treatment. This study focuses on whether cultural and social expectations affect women's psychological evaluations of the menstrual experience, and particularly, whether identification with feminism affects attitudes toward menstruation and the physical and emotional symptoms experienced. Subjects were 87 college women who completed 30 days of prospective mood ratings. 43 subjects completed the Menstrual Symptom Questionnaire (Chesney & Tasto, 1975), the Menstrual Attitude Questionnaire (Brooks-Gunn & Ruble, 1980), and a Feminism Scale (Dempewolff, 1972) prior to beginning the mood ratings as part of a sensitizing manipulation. The remaining subjects served as controls to determine if demand characteristics affected attitudes and mood. Results indicated that identification with feminism was associated with more positive mood around menstruation.

Date of Award

1995

Department

Department of Psychology

Presidential Scholar Designation

A paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the designation Presidential Scholar

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this Presidential Scholars thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit an email request to scholarworks@uni.edu. Include your name and clearly identify the thesis by full title and author as shown on the work.

Date Original

1995

Object Description

1 PDF file (28 pages)

Copyright

©1995 Natalie J. Martin

Type

document

Language

EN

File Format

application_pdf

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