Menarche: responses of early adolescent females

The purpose of this study was to investigate the responses of menarcheal age females to the event of menarche. The three dependent variables were attitudes toward menstruation, overall self-esteem, and physical self-esteem. In addition, this study investigated the perception of pubertal changes in premenarcheal girls and recency of menarche in postmenarcheal girls in relation to the same variables. Information was collected from 95 girls between the ages of 11 and 15 years. Results indicated that premenarcheal girls thought menses was more debilitating than did postmenarcheal girls. Postmenarcheal girls who had been menstruating the longest felt menses was a natural event but denied its effects. There was no significant difference in overall self-esteem or physical self-esteem in premenarcheal and postmenarcheal girls, nor was recency of menarche related to overall self-esteem or physical self-esteem in postmenarcheal girls. It was not possible to compare the perception of pubertal changes in premenarcheal girls.