A longitudinal analysis of women's attitudes toward the menopause: results from the Massachusetts Women's Health Study

Abstract

This paper examines women's attitudes towards menopause in a large representative sample of middle-aged women. Data were derived from the Massachusetts Women's Health Study (MWHS) which is a prospective study of 2565 women aged 45-55, randomly sampled throughout Massachusetts. The paper addressed the following questions: (1) What are women's attitudes towards the menopause and how do attitudes change as a function of menopause? (2) What variables are related to attitudes towards menopause? and (3) Do attitudes towards menopause predict subsequent symptom reporting during menopause? Results showed that the majority of women reported relief or neutral feelings about the cessation of menses and that feelings became more positive as women experienced menopause. Negative attitudes towards menopause were related to general symptom reporting and depression. Additionally, negative attitudes prior to menopause were related to subsequent symptom reporting during menopause. These results suggest that the so-called menopause syndrome may be more related to personal characteristics than to menopause per se.