Timing of menarche and initial menstrual experience

This study sought to compare the relative importance of subjective and objective timing of menarche for initial menstrual experience. Objective timing is defined as when an event occurs relative to a person's actual chronological age. Subjective timing is when a life event occurs relative to social norms for the timing of its occurrence, and has been cited as being of importance in determining the events' psychological significance. In this study, college women completed a survey in which they recorded their age at menarche, an estimate of the number of their peers reaching menarche before them, and their memory of their initial experience of menstruation, on a 7-point scale ranging from 1 (completely positive) to 7 (completely negative). The assumption was that girls who reported early menarche in relation to peers subjectively experienced themselves as early maturers, the converse being true for girls reporting late menarche. Since a curvilnear relationship between subjective timing and objective timing has been reported for girls by other studies, linear relationships were not considered; instead, a chisquare analysis and a measure of the relative strength of each relationship were performed on the date, the results indicating that subjective timing was significantly related to menarcheal experience, but objective timing was not, with girls who experienced themselves as early remembering a more negative menarche than girls who experienced themselves as "on time" or late. The results validate the importance of the concept of "social clocks" in adolescent development and suggest that future studies of the importance of pubertal timing should include measures of subjective as well as objective timing.     

Memories of menarche: Age,preparation, and prior knowledge as determinants of initial menstrual experience

The relationships between age at menarche, preparation for menarche, and initial experience of menarche, were assessed in a retrospective questionnaire administered to 97 college-aged women. The more knowledgeable a girl was prior to menarche, the more adequate she perceived her preparation for menarche to have been; and the older she was at the time of menarche, the more likely she was to report a positive initial experience. These data support clinical anecdotes describing initial responses to menarche, and provide information about the factors which can moderate the extent to which menarche is experienced as a traumatic and disruptive event.Portions of this research were presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Hartford, Conn., April 1980.Received Ph.D. in psychology from Tufts University. Major interests are psychobiology and adolescent development.Received Ph.D. in psychology from Clark University. Major interests are clinical psychology and personality development.Received Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard University. Major interest is cognitive development.     

The effects of delayed menarche in different contexts: Dance and nondance students

The premise that effects of maturational timing are mediated by social context is explored by comparing adolescent girls in dance and nondance schools. Because the dance student must maintain a relatively low body weight, being a late maturer (who is often leaner than an on-time maturer) is expected to be more advantageous to the dancer than to the student not required to meet a weight standard. Girls aged 14 to 18 were seen; 276 attended private schools and 69 attended national ballet company schools. AllSs were weighed and measured and asked questions about their secondary sexual development, weight-related concerns, eating concerns, adult sex-role expectancies, body image, emotional functioning, and family relationships. Menarcheal age was used to classify girls as early (before 11.5 years of age), on time (between 11.5 and 14 years), and late maturers (after 14 years). More dance than non-dance school students were late maturers (55% versus 29%). The dance students weighed less and were leaner, had higher eating scores, and had lower family relationship and impulse control scores than the comparison sample. Across groups, late maturing students weighed less, were leaner, and had lower diet and higher oral control scores than on-time maturers, with the differences more pronounced in the dance than nondance students. In addition, the on-time dancers had higher psychopathology, perfection, and bulimia scores and lower body image scores than the late maturing dancers. The findings are discussed in terms of a goodness of fit between the requirements of a social context and a person's physical and behavioral characteristics.This paper was prepared with the support of grants from the W. T. Grant Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Research Interests: Girls' psychological adaptation to pubertal change, biosocial aspects of female reproductive events, development in at-risk children and adolescents.     

Associations Between Trauma Type,Timing, and Accumulation on Current Coping Behaviors in Adolescents: Results from a Large,Population-based Sample

The development of adolescents’ coping in response to stress is critical for adaptive functioning; these coping strategies may be shaped by numerous environmental factors during childhood, including experiences such as exposure to trauma. Childhood trauma has been shown to undermine contemporaneous coping, but how does a history of exposure to trauma and the characteristics of that trauma (type, timing, and accumulation) relate to current coping among adolescents? We addressed this question using a nationally-representative sample of 9427 adolescents (ages 13–18; 48.9% female; 66% White). Adolescents reported on their lifetime exposure to 18 different traumas, including witnessing or experiencing interpersonal violence, accidents, disasters, and violent or accidental loss of loved ones, as well as their current use of coping behaviors when under stress (problem-focused, positive emotion-focused, and negative emotion-focused coping strategies). The study’s results highlight that exposure to nearly all forms of trauma was unrelated to problem-focused and positive emotion-focused coping behaviors, but strongly associated with increased negative emotion-focused coping. Use of each coping style did not vary with age at first exposure to trauma, but increased with the number of lifetime traumatic events experienced. The findings suggest that the extent of prior exposure to trauma, including variations across type and timing, may be related to a particular form of coping that has been linked to increased risk for mental health problems. Study results highlight coping strategies as a potential target for prevention and treatment efforts, and indicate a need to better understand the malleability and trajectory of coping responses to stress for promoting healthy youth development.     

The Timing of Home Leaving: A Comparison of Early,On-Time,and Late Home Leavers

This study employs the National Survey of Families and Households of 1988 to study the predictors of age at home leaving for three groups of home leavers: early, on time, and late. Predictors examined include family structure, family formation, and personal characteristics. Discriminant analysis suggests that predictors vary by age of home leaving, and that the differences between early and other types of home leavers are most salient. The impact of family structure is the strongest for early home leaving, but much less for on-time and late home leaving.     

A self-report measure of pubertal status: Reliability,validity, and initial norms

Puberty is a central process in the complex set of changes that constitutes the transition from childhood to adolescence. Research on the role of pubertal change in this transition has been impeded by the difficulty of assessing puberty in ways acceptable to young adolescents and others involved. Addressing this problem, this paper describes and presents norms for a selfreport measure of pubertal status. The measure was used twice annually over a period of three years in a longitudinal study of 335 young adolescent boys and girls. Data on a longitudinal subsample of 253 subjects are reported. The scale shows good reliability, as indicated by coefficient alpha. In addition, several sources of data suggest that these reports are valid. The availability of such a measure is important for studies, such as those based in schools, in which more direct measures of puberty may not be possible.This research was supported by a grant to A.C.P. from the National Institutes of Mental Health (MH 38052/38142).She earned the Ph.D. in Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistical Analysis at the University of Chicago. Her research interests focus on biopsychosocial development in adolescence.She earned the Ph.D. in Human Development at the University of Chicago. Her research interests focus on social development and gender roles.She earned the Ph.D. in Human Development at the University of Chicago. Her research interests focus on adolescent development and gender issues.His research interests focus on parent-adolescent relationships.     

Timing of first sexual intercourse: the role of social control,social learning,and problem behavior

Prior research has pointed to several distinct processes that may affect the timing of first intercourse among adolescents. In the present study, the role of six hypothesized processes was assessed in a sample of 289 rural adolescent boys and girls. Results support the importance of family socialization and problem-behavior for both sexes, the role of biological factors for boys, and the role of social control processes for girls. Two other hypothesized influences—social class and poor psychosocial adjustment—were not supported in either gender. These results indicate that multiple processes influence the timing of first intercourse; thus, they underscore the need for eclectic predictive models that incorporate the multiplicity of influences.Received Ph.D. in Human Development from the University of Chicago. Current research interests include adolescent psychosocial development and risk behaviors.Received Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies from the Pennsylvania State University. Current research interests include adolescent sexuality and health-related behaviors.Received Ph.D. in Health Education from The Pennsylvania State University. Current research interests include adolescent health.Received Ph.D. in Education from The Pennsylvania State University. Current interests include adolescent substance abuse and pregnancy, as well as community health interventions.     

Going Through the Rites of Passage: Timing and Transition of Menarche,Childhood Sexual Abuse,and Anxiety Symptoms in Girls

Menarche is a discrete, transitional event that holds considerable personal, social, biological, and developmental significance. The present longitudinal study examined both the transition and timing of menarche on the trajectory of anxiety in girls with histories of childhood maltreatment (N = 93; 63% European American, 14% multiracial, 10% Latino, 9% African American, and 4% Native American). We hypothesized that because menarche is a novel, unfamiliar experience, girls would show greater anxiety around the time of menarche. The anxiety-provoking nature of menarche may be accentuated among earlier-maturing girls and girls with histories of childhood sexual abuse. Results indicated that earlier-maturing girls were more anxious in the pre- and peri-menarche periods than their later-maturing peers; however, their anxiety declined after menarche. Childhood sexual abuse was associated with heightened anxiety throughout this transition. The developmental significance of the timing and transition of menarche in relation to childhood sexual abuse and anxiety is discussed.     

unreal women: sex,gender, identity and the lived experience of vulvar pain

In this paper, I take up the lives of women with persistent vulvar pain for what they can reveal about the enmeshment of gender, (hetero)sexuality and bodily practices. Women with vulvodynia are unable to perform the central heterogendering act of penetrative intercourse with a male partner. They describe this inability as rendering them effectively ‘genderless’, described as being ‘not a real woman’ or a ‘fake woman’. I analyse their perceptions of gender and bodily performance in relation to feminist theorizing about gender and sexuality, and I argue for the centrality of the lived body to the epistemology of feminist efforts to theorize gender. This paper is based on in-person interviews with 20 women and web-based open-ended interactions with 70 women with vulvodynia.     

Biological maturation in adolescence and the development of drinking habits and alcohol abuse among young males: A prospective longitudinal study

In the present study, the relationship between biological maturation (skeletal growth) in adolescence and the development of drinking habits and alcohol abuse were studied for a representative group of Swedish males. The results showed that early maturers and late maturers had more advanced drinking habits at age 14 as compared to their normally maturing same-aged peers (p<.05).This difference was not significant 1 1/2 years later. In young adulthood more than one third (36%) of the late maturers were registered for alcohol abuse as compared to 14% of the normal maturers and 8% of the early maturers (p=.12).The relevance of psychosocial factors as mediating the relationship between biology and actual behavior was discussed. It was emphasized that differences in biological and psychosocial maturity should be taken into consideration when studying adolescent behavior, both in cross-sectional and in longitudinal perspectives.This study was supported by funds from the Swedish Council for Planing and Coordination of Research, the Committee for Social Research, and the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation.Received Ph.D. from University of Stockholm 1988. Current research interest is the development of drinking habits and alcohol abuse.Current research interest is human development.     

Peers,parents, and adolescent drug use in a rural community: A two-wave panel study

This study examined the relative influence of changes in orientations to ward peers and parents on the drug-use patterns of a panel of rural youths. It was hypothesized that, when the changes in orientations that occurred over a three-year period of time were evaluated, the level of involvement with either alcohol or marijuana would be highest for those youths experiencing movement toward positions sympathetic to the use of drugs. The data analysis revealed that after three years there was greater distance between youths and their parents on the subject of drugs, and that those youths who experienced the greatest movement were also the most heavily involved with drugs. The single best predictor of the use rate for either type of drug was the level of past use, followed by changes in the level of drug-related conflict with parents. Among the peer-based measures, changes in the frequency of both pro- and antidrug-use discussions were found to make a significant contribution only in the case of marijuana use.A version of this paper was presented at the annual meetings of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, August 1985, Washington, D.C.He received his Ph.D. from the University of Montana. His research interests include death and dying in American jails and professional socialization in criminal justice vocations.     

Gender,nationalism and the colonial jail: a study of women activists in Uttar Pradesh

Abstract

An important aspect of Indian women's political participation in the nationalist struggle against colonial rule was their imprisonment and confinement within the walls of the prison. To counter the difficulty and monotony of their prison existence, women developed strong solidarity networks which not only helped them to adjust to the temporary upheaval in their lives but also resulted in their becoming strong and determined individuals with a nationalist consciousness. These women resisted colonial rule through imprisonment and activities in the jail (such as writing poetry) just as they did through nationalist activities within the domestic sphere (such as spinning and weaving). The jail became a site where identities were continuously shaped and restructured. Feelings of pride, resentment, honour and humiliation were all experienced by women prisoners and were continuously sharpened. Women's entry into male dominated spaces dispelled the British stereotypes about Indian women as subordinate, weak and docile. Women were also aware that by endangering their womanhood on the streets and putting their bodies under risk of attack, they proved that they could share common experiences with their fellow men in the public sphere.     

The political economy of sugarcane flexing: initial insights from Brazil,Southern Africa and Cambodia

In the context of rising resource demand, agricultural crops such as sugarcane are being promoted for their multiple uses in different commodity markets and as alternatives to fossil fuel equivalents (i.e. as a source of biofuel, bioelectricity and bioplastic). These commodities are also produced on an increasingly flexible basis, as sugarcane mills respond to price signals and switch between different crop uses. This paper offers a preliminary exploration into the politics of this latest development in the capitalist industrialization of agriculture. It does so by focusing primarily on flexing in Brazil and highlighting the role of the state in both creating markets for non-food products that sugarcane mills can now switch between and managing the tensions that arise from this. These tensions have concerned consumer prices for fuel, control of distribution infrastructure and conditions of land conversion, each prompting political interventions by the state. The paper then suggests how this same process is taking place, albeit shaped by different contexts, in Southern Africa and Cambodia. It concludes with some key questions for further research: is flexing eroding the distinction between crop regimes? How do primary processors decide what their product mix will be? And on what basis do state actors support flexing between agricultural products and investments in so-called bio-refineries?     

Women's history: a study in continuity and change

In this response to Bridget Hill's viewpoint published inWomen's History Review, 2, pp. 5-22, Judith Bennett argues that her position is more subtle and more nuanced than Hill's critique would suggest. Bennett defends the historiographical importance of re-assessing the place of continuity in women's history; she emphasizes the legitimate place of generalization in women's history; and she argues that patriarchy is a critical subject of investigation for feminist historians.     

Pubertal Timing and Depressive Symptoms in Early Adolescents: The Roles of Romantic Competence and Romantic Experiences

In spite of the large literature supporting the link between early pubertal timing and depression in adolescent girls, there are some exceptions. This suggests that there may be factors that interact with pubertal timing, increasing risk for depression in some girls, but not others. This study examined two such factors, romantic competence and romantic experiences, and their role in the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between pubertal timing and depressive symptoms among 83 early adolescent females (89% Caucasian). For on-time maturing girls (but not for early- or late-), lower levels of competence were associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms concurrently, but not longitudinally. In addition, for on-time maturing girls, more romantic experiences were associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms both concurrently and longitudinally. The discussion focused on the need for greater conceptual and empirical clarity regarding the pubertal timing-depression association and its potential moderators.

Alice Havergal Skillicorn,Principal of Homerton College,Cambridge, 1935-60: a study of gender and power

This article sharpens our understanding of the intersection of the discourses of gender and power in the woman principal's role by an in-depth study of Alice Havergal Skillicorn, Principal of Homerton College, Cambridge, 1935-60. Like previous principals, Skillicorn constructed a subjectivity which was dual gendered. In her public life as principal, she adopted a masculine discourse of power which subordinated feminine discourse into the private sphere. But this marginalisation of feminine discourse in her public role made her unable, except in her most intimate emotional relationship, to enact an appropriate femininity in her private life. After a theoretical and contextual introduction, it is shown how Skillicorn marginalised and negated her femininity through her body, by failing to adopt feminine standards of attractiveness in her appearance and clothes. She successfully wielded autocratic power in the public sphere with a masculine discourse of political skill, financial acumen and, most importantly, an instrumentality in her dealings with staff and students, which was entirely devoid of a feminine desire to be liked. The difficulties she faced in the private sphere - difficulties which were assuaged but not overcome by homoerotic friendship - are also discussed.     

Women's experience of world war one: Suffragists,pacifists and poets

The period of 1914–1918 was a time of immense change for women in Britain. The Suffragist movement, begun in 1867, gained irresistible force, culminating in the Act of 1918 in which women were given the vote at thirty and men at twenty-one. It was not until the 1928 Act that for the first time in the history of Britain there was full adult suffrage, granting the vote to both sexes at twenty-one. The picture is a complex one; Mrs Pankhurst and her daughter Christabel identified their movement with the war effort, indeed their pre-war militancy became militarism. Mrs Fawcett, an avowed non-militant suffragist before the war, who believed in the verbal power of argument over revolutionary tactics, also supported the war effort and nationalism. However, there were other suffragists such as Sylvia Pankhurst, Emily Hobhouse, Catherine Marshall, Helena Swanwick, Olive Schreiner and Kate Courtney, who were opposed to the war. Mrs Pankhurst believed if women couldn't fight, they shouldn't vote. The pacifists believed that this view simply gave in to the argument for physical force. They also saw militarism as yet another version of the strong oppressing the weak and thus an emphatic form of patriarchy. However, although the suffragists were bitterly divided in their moral view of the war, they were united in the cause of women's emancipation.The war itself provided all classes of women with important opportunities to work outside the home, as munition workers, land-army workers, police-women, doctors and nurses. The experience of change caused by the suffrage movement, together with the effect of the war upon women's lives, transformed women's image of themselves in radical and irreversible ways.My paper draws on some 125 poems by 72 women poets; Scars Upon My Heart is the first anthology of its kind and testifies to women's involvement in the war and the impact it had upon their lives. The anthology is necessary reading, together with the soldier poets like Owen, Sassoon, Blunden and Rosenberg, whose war poetry has been known to us for the past sixty years, for a full understanding of the significance of war for women and men.