Showing papers by "Jeanne Brooks-Gunn published in 1986"

Men's and women's attitudes and beliefs about the menstrual cycle

Abstract: Recent analyses of menstrual distress have emphasized sociocultural influences. Yet beliefs and attitudes of men—an important socialization force in the lives of women—have received little attention. In the present study, 239 students (156 females and 83 males) from three colleges filled out a survey on expectations for menstrual and premenstrual symptoms, attitudes about mensturation, sources of menstrual-related information, and effects of menstruation upon daily activities. The major findings are as follows: First, although both males and females believed women experience certain cycle-related symptoms, females reported that women experience more severe menstrual and premenstrual symptoms (when compared to intermenstrual ones) than males reported, while males believed women experience more severe menstrual than premenstrual symptoms than females believed. Second, males learned less about menstruation from the majority of possible informational sources and rated most sources as more negative than did the females. Third, males believed that menstruation had more of an effect on women's moods and had a more debilitating effect on women's lives than did females. Fourth, females rated menstruation as more bothersome than did males. Fifth, more males believed their mothers experienced menstrual irritability and moodiness, while more females believed their mothers experienced swelling. The findings are discussed in terms of the role of socialization and the type of information imparted to males and females in America today.

Differentiating premenstrual symptoms and syndromes.

Abstract: The complex interplay among biologic, cultural, and psychologic factors that gives rise to menstrual cycle-related symptoms has for years intrigued and puzzled those studying this phenomenon. The fascination arises, in part, because the female reproductive cycle occurs monthly, has pervasive cultural beliefs associated with it, and exhibits hormonal variations in a fairly regular pattern that result in differences between individuals and even within individuals across cycles. What better situation could exist for attempting to tease apart the relative effects of various biopsychosocial factors upon women's experience of symptoms? The puzzlement exists because, while we know a great deal about hormonal variation, cultural beliefs, and menstrual knowledge acquisition during adolescence (cf., 1-5}, we do not know to what extent these and other factors influence each woman's overall menstrual experience. Researchers tend to focus either on psychosocial or biologic factors; even those who pay lip service to multideterministic, transactional models often do not

Nutritional intake of female dancers: A reflection of eating problems

Abstract: A 24 hour nutritional survey was conducted on 79 professional female ballet dancers in order to examine the relationship between nutritional intake and eating and anorectic behaviors, measured weight, and menstrual irregularity. Dancers who exhibited anorectic behaviors and had high restrained and bulimic eating scores consumed significantly less protein and fat. Heavier dancers (from −4 to −10% below ideal weight) were found to be consuming fewer calories, exhibiting more dieting behavior, and reporting more menstrual irregularity than thinner dancers (from −11 to −21% below ideal weight). When the dancers with menstrual irregularities were examined as a group, they were found to ingest less protein, iron, and niacin and report more anorectic and dieting behaviors than dancers without menstrual irregularities. These data suggest that concerns about weight are manifested in the nutritional habits of professional ballet dancers and that dancers nearer to ideal weight are more actively engaged in dieting behavior than those who are thinner.

The relationship of maternal beliefs about sex typing to maternal and young children's behavior

Abstract: Possible links between maternal beliefs about children's sex-typed behavior and familial characteristics, mothers' interactions with their young children, and children's cognitive functioning were explored. One hundred and thirty-two mothers and their two-year-olds were seen; familial social class, birth order, and child gender were selection-criterion variables. Sex-typed beliefs were assessed by asking mothers to rate a number of qualities and interests as to whether or not each was more likely to occur in or be characteristic of boys or of girls, or was equally likely to be characteristic of boys and girls. Mothers rated qualities for two different age periods—toddlerhood and middle childhood. Mothers and toddlers were observed in a free play setting for 20 min. Responsivity and type of behavior emitted were assessed. The Bayley Scale of Infant Intelligence was given at 24 months. The findings were as follows: First, gender and social class were related to maternal beliefs about sex-typed characteristics. Second, maternal sex-typed beliefs were negatively related to active toy play and distal interaction, with this relationship significant for daughters but not sons. Third, daughters of low sex-typed mothers were more responsive and more likely to seek comfort than daughters of high sex-typed mothers. Fourth, daughters of mothers who had strong sex-typed beliefs had lower IQ scores at 24 months than did daughters of mothers with beliefs less strong; this relationship was not found for sons. Research on cross-sex behavior and enhanced cognitive functioning was reviewed as it relates to these findings.

Physical similarity of and disclosure of menarcheal status to friends: Effects of grade and pubertal status.

Abstract: This study explores the relationship of friendship characteristics, specifically perceived reciprocity and self-disclosure of menarcheal status, to physical similarity, pubertal status, and grade level. One hundred and twenty girls in fifth, sixth, and seventh grades were interviewed about their friendships. Each girl was asked to name her "best," "close," and ",other" friends, as well as whether the friendships were reciprocal, whether each friend would tell the subject when she began menstruating (or, if postmenarcheal, did tell), and vice-versa. Girls rated the similarity of each friends' physical development to their own physical development. A nurse rated the girls' physical development by the Tanner method.

The Effect of Cycle Phase on the Adolescent Swimmers.

Abstract: In brief: Performance times of six postmen-archeal adolescents who competed on junior and senior national levels were recorded during a 12-week period. The fastest times for the 100-yd freestyle and 100-yd best event occurred during the menstrual phase and the slowest times during the premenstruum. Symptoms were rated biweekly with the Moos Menstrual Distress Questionnaire. Subjects reported feeling better during menstruation than premenstruation, and none reported dysmenorrhea. Based on basal body temperature, five of ten cycles were clearly biphasic, two were monophasic, and three were possibly biphasic with very short luteal phases. These results, albeit from a small sample, suggest that menstrual cycle phase may affect athletic performance as measured by practice times.