Menarcheal timing, memories of menarche, and later attitudes toward menstruation

Figures & data

Table 1. Socio-demographic characteristics of participants. Data are given as mean and standard deviation or percentages

	Early maturers (n = 45)		On-time maturers (n = 300)		Late maturers (n = 59)
	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD
Age menarche	9.62	.54	11.84	.74	14.42	.65
Current age	21.33	2.53	21.04	2.20	21.58	2.37
Occupation	n	%	n	%	N	%
Employed	13	29	75	25	16	27
Self-employed	12	26	72	24	15	25
Student	20	45	153	51	28	48
Educational level	n	%	n	%	N	%
High school or technical career	10	23	57	19	13	22
Undergraduate	20	45	150	50	28	48
College degree	14	32	93	31	18	30

Table 2. Answers to the phrase “My first menstruation was…” according menarcheal timing. The quantitative semantic distances (QSD) are presented

Early maturers		On-time maturers		Late matures
Answer	QSD	Answer	QSD	Answer	QSD
Scary	100%	Confusing	100%	Painful	100%
Unexpected	59%	Annoying	88%	Confusing	98%
Confusing	57%	Strange	87%	Annoying	94%
Nerve wracking	30%	Unexpected	43%	Strange	49%
Embarrassing	29%	Dirty	42%	At certain age*	35%
Horrible	25%	Embarrassing	30%	Irregular	34%
Strange	24%	Painful	29%	Scarce	30%
Complicated	22%	Scary	28%	Nice	24%
Dirty	16%	Nerve wracking	26%	Calm	23%
At certain age*	13%	Red	22%	New	19%
* 10 or less years				* 14 or more years

Table 3. Experience of menarche according menarcheal timing

	Early maturers n (%)	On-time maturers n (%)	Late maturers n (%)	χ^2	p
“I knew what was happening”	28(62.2%)	257(85.7%)	53(91.4%)	18.72	.001
“I knew what I should do”	23(51.1%)	224(74.7%)	49(83.1%)	14.46	.001
“I felt well prepared to start living with periods”	7(15.6%)	99(34.1%)	16(27.6%)	6.66	.04
“I thought I should keep it a secret”	20(44.4%)	82(27.3%)	12(20.3%)	7.77	.02
“I thought I was not a girl anymore”	10(22.2%)	134(44.8%)	26(44.1%)	9.21	n.s.

Table 4. Emotional reaction to menarche according menarcheal timing

	Early maturers		On-time maturers		Late maturers
	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD
Positive reaction	0.71	1.29	0.96	1.15	1.05	1.80
Negative reaction	2.78 a,b	1.26	2.11a	1.39	2.29b	1.48

Notes:^a. Means within rows that share subscript letters are significantly different at p < .05

^b The possible values ranged from 0 to 4.