title: Body appreciation and attitudes toward menstruation.
abstract: Menstruation is an important function of the female body, yet it has rarely been included in research on body image. As women's attitudes toward menstruation are so often negative, this study was designed to examine whether women with positive body image would have more positive attitudes toward menstruation. Seventy-two American women, ages 18-45 years, were recruited online to complete the Body Appreciation Scale (Avalos et al., 2005) and the Beliefs about and Attitudes toward Menstruation Scale (Marván et al., 2006) and to answer some questions about their interest in menstrual suppression. Linear regressions showed that higher scores on body appreciation predicted more positive attitudes toward and beliefs about menstruation, but were not related to interest in menstrual suppression. Our findings may be useful in designing interventions to increase women's comfort with their bodies and bodily functions.
authors.affiliation: Connecticut College, New London, CT, USA. Electronic address: jcchr@conncoll.edu.
authors.forename: Joan C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Chrisler
authors.affiliation: Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, Mexico.
authors.forename: Maria Luisa
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Marván
authors.affiliation: Connecticut College, New London, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Gorman
authors.affiliation: Connecticut College, New London, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Meghan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rossini
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001828:Body Image / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008598:Menstruation / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Attitudes toward menstruation; Body appreciation; Menstrual suppression; Positive body image