Flow Processing: Narratives of Menarche in Early Adolescence

Introduction: Foundational research in developmental psychology emphasized the psychological value of youths' narratives and perspectives on menarche. In the current study, we update and extend this work using computational text analysis techniques to examine how youth characterize experiences of menarche and the association of these descriptions with internalizing symptoms. Method: In 2021, n = 120 early adolescents (M_age = 12.86 years, SD = 0.73; 65% Latina) from a large city on the West Coast of the United States completed a word association task and narrative writing task about menarche, along with measures of internalizing psychopathology, at two time points 1 month apart. We examined the most frequently used words and topics youth employed to describe their first period using co-occurrence network analysis, sentiment analysis, and topic modeling. Results: Youth generated predominantly negative words to describe menarche, with “scary” and “painful” as the words used most frequently. Consistent with earlier research, many youth reported talking with their mothers about menarche along with a reluctance to share menarche more publicly. Youth whose narratives included more words about emotions reported fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety at Time 1, while expressions of disgust were linked with greater symptoms of depression and anxiety at Time 2. Conclusions: Despite rises in menstrual activism and efforts to destigmatize menstruation, youth's narratives and perspectives on menarche reflected largely negative views of menarche. Because disgust and the articulation of emotions were linked with depression and anxiety, these may be areas of interest to parents or educators and health professionals who work with peri-menarcheal youth.