THE RELATIONSHIP AMONG MENSTRUAL LEARNING, ATTITUDES, AND COMMUNICATION IN AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN OF DIFFERING SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS
Open Access
- Author:
- Cooper, Spring Chenoa
- Graduate Program:
- Biobehavioral Health
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- October 04, 2006
- Committee Members:
- Patricia Barthalow Koch, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Linda Ann Wray, Committee Member
Edgar Paul Yoder, Committee Member
Keith Whitfield, Committee Member
Roxanne Louise Parrott, Committee Member - Keywords:
- menstrual
attitudes
learning
communication
African American
socioeconomic status - Abstract:
- The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships among the menstrual learning, attitudes, and communication of African American women and whether or not these relationships are influenced by socioeconomic status. The questionnaire that was analyzed concerned women’s menstrual learning, including. Results showed that: 1) Women in this study had various sources of menstrual information, but mothers were the source that was cited most often. 2) Most types of menstrual information were augmented after menarche. 3) On average, the African American women disagreed with the attitude that menstruation could be a pleasant or positive experience. 4) Biological and behavioral learning from family, other than mothers, and biological learning from teachers and reading correlated with less current positive attitudes toward menstruation. 5) Those women who received biological and behavioral information about menstruation from reading felt less negatively, including “annoyed” about their menstruation. 6) On average, the African American women were ambivalent about being secretive or open about their menstrual periods. 7) Women’s current attitudes toward secrecy seemed to be diminished by learning biological menstrual information from their friends or reading or receiving behavioral information from their mother, other family members, or reading. 8) Women who had less positive/pleasant attitudes toward menstruation were likely to share more biological and behavioral information with their daughters and an “other.” 9) Women who felt less secretive about their own menstruation were likely to share more biological information with the young people that they knew. 10) Socio-economic status did not impact the above relationships. Implications for menstrual education are discussed.