Attitudes toward women in menopause: a Vignette approach

The attitudes of women (1) toward a woman in menopause, (2) comparable male and non-menopausal female stimulus figures, (3) and themselves were compared using a vignette approach. Vignettes depicting a middle-aged female and a middle-aged male were presented to 152 women between the ages of 18 and 55. The women were asked to rate the vignette subjects on a semantic differential. Approximately half of the women received a vignette of a woman who was identified as being menopausal, and half received the identical vignette without the menopausal condition. Participants then completed a semantic differential rating of themselves and the Tennessee Self Concept Scale (TSCS). There was no difference in the semantic differential ratings of the menopausal vs. the nonmenopausal vignette characters, nor in the male vs. the female characters. Although the participants ranked themselves higher than both the female and male characters, there was no difference in the ratings of the vignettes or the self by women with lower vs. higher self-esteem.