Hysteretic behavior of microwave second harmonic emission by superconductors in the critical state AIP Conf. Exploiting the simple formula proposed by Ikuta et al. ͓Phy. Rev. Lett. 70, 2166 ͑1993͔͒ to describe the magnetostriction of high T C superconductors and introducing a B 2 dependent magnetic flux density component, as proposed by Koziol and Dunlap ͓J. Appl. Phys. 79, 4662 ͑1996͔͒, we reproduce families of magnetostriction curves measured by Nabialek et al. ͓Physica B 319, 286 ͑2002͔͒ and de Visser et al. ͓Phys. Rev. B 45, 2962 ͑1992͔͒, using a simple expression for the dependence of the critical current density J C on the magnetic field in each analysis.