title: Sociocultural aspects of menstrual attitudes and premenstrual experiences in India.
abstract: Menstrual attitudes were studied in a group of 48 Indian women using the Menstrual Attitude Questionnaire, modified and adapted for Indian background. Attitudinal factors of menstruation being a natural, bothersome and debilitating event were studied, as also denial of the event and healthy/unhealthy attitudes. High rating was seen in menstruation being perceived as a natural event and least as a debilitating one. Older women considered menstruation as a natural event. Relating premenstrual experiences to attitudes, it was observed that distressful symptoms correlated significantly with debilitating and unhealthy attitudes. Similarly, premenstrual well-being correlated highly with naturalness attitudes, thereby suggesting that the personal experiences are likely to influence the menstrual attitudes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India.
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Chaturvedi
authors.forename: P S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Chandra
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008393:Marriage; D008598:Menstruation; D011293:Premenstrual Syndrome / Q000523:psychology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires