Interview study, 2018
What are young women's experiences and feelings about menstruation?
Eight Iranian university students described menstruation as shameful, secret, and often painful. Many felt frightened and unprepared when menstruation started because they did not receive enough information from family or school.
What they did
Researchers interviewed 8 Iranian university students aged 21-25 who lived in Tehran. They asked the students about their experiences with menstruation and their first period, then analyzed the interviews to identify common themes.
What they found
Women described their first period as a negative and frightening experience, partly because they were not well prepared or informed. Most felt menstruation was shameful and secret, and many believed it made them impure according to religious rules. Many experienced menstruation as painful. Some described conflicting feelings about their periods and found the unpredictability of their cycle stressful. A few women mentioned having PMS symptoms.
What it means for you
How women feel about menstruation is influenced by cultural and family attitudes more than by the physical experience itself. This study was very small and focused on one Iranian community, so these experiences may differ from women in other cultures and settings.
8
women interviewed
21-25
age range
About the study
- Original title
- Unpreparedness, impurity and paradoxical feeling: menstruation narratives of Iranian women
- Authors
- Seyed Hosseini AS
- Journal
- International journal of adolescent medicine and health
- Year
- 2018
- Study design
- Interview study
- What was tested
- interviews
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1515/ijamh-2018-0008
Topics
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