Impact of Attitude towards Menstruation on Emotional Distress and Obesity among Female Adults

Abstract

The present study focused to examine the attitude towards menstruation on emotional distress and obesity among female adults. Participants (N = 200) were selected in the study. Age range was from 25-44 years. Cross-sectional research design was used and data was collected through purposive sampling technique. Menstrual Attitude Questionnaire (MAQ) (Brooks-Gun & Ruble, 1980), Kessler Psychological Distress (K10) (Kessler & Mroczek,1992), and Obesity Related Well-Being (ORWELL 97) (Mannucci et al., 1999) scales were used. Pearson correlation, independent sample t-test, and linear regression were done for analysis. Results showed that menstrual attitude had notable positive correlation with emotional distress and obesity and; menstrual attitude significantly predicted obesity among female adults. Moreover, there was no significant difference of menstrual attitude among marital status. This study will help to understand how women perceive different menstrual attitude and how their attitude linked with their physical or psychological health. This study will also help the female adults of different profession to properly guide and give awareness to the young female generation about menstruation, different attitudes towards menstruation, and their impact on physical or psychological health. However, there were some limitations, the participants in the study came from some particular universities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, and so the result may not be generalized to a larger population. The present study was purely quantitative in nature which limited the in depth knowledge of relation between menstrual attitude, obesity, and emotional distress. Further researchers should focus on mixed method approach to understand the relationship more comprehensively. Moreover, they should focus on all the demographic variables to get the in-depth knowledge. A comparative study should be conducted on women of different age range in the future attitude towards mensuration of every woman depends on their physical health, environment and education.