Attitudes Toward Menopause

Abstract

Menopause is a complex biopsychosocial phenomenon that is influenced by women's attitudes, the attitudes of their partners, families, and friends, and societal norms.Previous research has shown that attitudes can be influenced by many factors, such as age and menopausal status. This study examined men's and women's attitudes toward several facets of menopause, including fertility, attractiveness, personal growth, emotional stability, and sexuality, using an Amazon Mechanical Turk sample of 194 females and 151 males. Results revealed that women and men differed significantly in their attitudes toward fertility, attractiveness, personal growth, and sexuality, with women having more positive attitudes on every dimension except sexuality. For females, age was a significant positive predictor for fertility, personal growth, and emotional stability; knowledge was a significant positive predictor for personal growth; and education was a significant positive predictor for emotional stability. For males, age was a significant positive predictor for fertility, and knowledge was a significant negative predictor for fertility. These results indicate that men typically have more negative attitudes toward menopause than do women, and that more potential predictors of menopause attitudes should be explored in future work to provide insight into the reasons for this difference.ii For my family and the friends who became my family.I couldn't have done it without you.iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Influencing factors on women's attitudes toward menopause: a systematic review

“…A previous study reported that both postmenopausal women and their healthcare providers believed that attitudes toward menopause can have an important role in the formation of women's experience about menopause. 5 The same finding was also reported by additional prospective studies. 6 Jurgenson et al 7 found a strong relationship between negative attitudes toward menopause and aging, increased severity, and the onset of menopausal symptoms.…”

“…Similarly, attitudes toward menopause may affect the severity of menopausal signs and symptoms and affect women's experience of menopause. A previous study reported that both postmenopausal women and their healthcare providers believed that attitudes toward menopause can have an important role in the formation of women's experience about menopause 5 . The same finding was also reported by additional prospective studies 6 .…”

The menopause moment: The rising visibility of ‘the change’ in UK news coverage

“…Tellingly, in key books focusing on women 3 and ageing within the media and cultural spheres, such as Dolan and Tincknell’s (2012) Aging Femininities and Douglas’s (2020) In Our Prime , the word ‘menopause’ is not included as an index entry and is barely mentioned. The existing scholarship on menopause in the media is limited and almost exclusively based on analyses of news and magazine representations in Australia (Shoebridge and Steed, 1998) and the United States (Cimons, 2008; Gannon and Ekstrom, 1993; Gannon and Stevens, 1998), 4 but not the United Kingdom. Moreover, to date, there has been no account of the media’s growing interest in menopause in the last decade or so.…”

Ménopause et mitan de vie : deux phénomènes, une symbolique

“…Dans la recherche comparative sur les paradigmes culturels réalisée par Gannon et Ekstrom (1993), où il s'agissait de classifier la ménopause en fonction de trois catégories larges (paradigmes médical, de transition et en fonction de l'âge), toutes les personnes du paradigme « médical » ont manifesté des attitudes plus négatives à l'égard de la ménopause que celles qui avaient choisi les deux autres contextes. Même constat dans la recherche effectuée par Lock (1994), où une comparaison entre les représentations de la ménopause au Japon et aux États-Unis illustre clairement que 117 plus l'image de la femme ménopausée est socialement valorisée, moins les femmes font état de symptômes physiques ou psychologiques.…”

“…Non seulement cette vision médicalisée de la ménopause aurait-elle des effets sociaux négatifs sur chacune des femmes en particulier, puisqu'elle autorise un contrôle toujours plus grand de la médecine sur leur expérience et leur corps, mais, de surcroît, elle aurait pour effet d'oblitérer la réalité empêchant que soit perçue, socialement, la variété des situations de ménopause (Notman,1990;Gannon et Ekstrom, 1993). Cependant, peu de travaux scientifiques, jusqu'à présent, avaient tenté de faire valoir la parole des femmes sur leur vécu de ménopause.…”