Preparation Factors and Menstrual Attitudes of Pre- and Postmenarcheal Girls

This article reports data from a study of 859 premenarcheal and 1,013 postmenarcheal girls residing in a large western Canadian city. Separate pre- and postmenarcheal forms of the AMAQ, a menstrual attitude scale that is relevant to age and experience, were developed and used to assess the relationship between menstrual status, age, a number of preparation factors, and menstrual attitudes.A MANOVA test was significant at the .01 level, supporting the role of menstrual preparation factors in positively shaping menstrual attitudes, although the data indicated that the impact of the various preparation variables were not the same across specific menstrual attitudes. Results with respect to preparation and symptom attitudes revealed a negative rather than a positive relationship. Results are discussed in terms of the implications for the redesign of menstrual education programs, and the role sexuality educators from a variety of professional preparations can play in assuring that these programs are relevant to the actual experiences of pre- and postmenarcheal girls.