Education on Early Menstruation and Self-Esteem
Event Type
Research Presentation
Academic Department
Psychology
Location
Dana Science Building, 2nd floor
Start Date
24-4-2026 1:00 PM
End Date
24-4-2026 2:30 PM
Description
Previous research has found that girls are experiencing precocious puberty and menstruating earlier than previous generations due to socioeconomic and environmental factors (Hillard, 2002). Precocious puberty can often be met with lower levels of self-esteem (Brock & Rowse, 2016) which can be due to continued levels of low education on menstruation (Long & Haver, 2022). To examine the relation early menstruation and menstrual education have on self-esteem, a research survey was created. This survey included the Global Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965) and Body Esteem survey (Mendelson & Mendelson, 2001), with responses from 207 participants. Although we found no statistically significant association between the first menstruation age and self-esteem levels, results show that 45% of participants first menstruate "early" or before the age of 11 and that 55% of participants rate their education level on menstruation from school in particular as very low to low. Changes can be made to menstrual education taught at school in a way that media or conversations with family members cannot as easily. Our findings suggest that menstruation education should be improved to meet the needs of children by considering the increasing earlier age of first menstruation.
Education on Early Menstruation and Self-Esteem
Dana Science Building, 2nd floor
Previous research has found that girls are experiencing precocious puberty and menstruating earlier than previous generations due to socioeconomic and environmental factors (Hillard, 2002). Precocious puberty can often be met with lower levels of self-esteem (Brock & Rowse, 2016) which can be due to continued levels of low education on menstruation (Long & Haver, 2022). To examine the relation early menstruation and menstrual education have on self-esteem, a research survey was created. This survey included the Global Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965) and Body Esteem survey (Mendelson & Mendelson, 2001), with responses from 207 participants. Although we found no statistically significant association between the first menstruation age and self-esteem levels, results show that 45% of participants first menstruate "early" or before the age of 11 and that 55% of participants rate their education level on menstruation from school in particular as very low to low. Changes can be made to menstrual education taught at school in a way that media or conversations with family members cannot as easily. Our findings suggest that menstruation education should be improved to meet the needs of children by considering the increasing earlier age of first menstruation.
Comments
Under the direction of Dr. Seung-Hee Han.