Daryl Costos’s research while affiliated with University of Massachusetts Boston and other places

In this article, we draw from a body of research in the last 20 years, our own included, to suggest a framework for thinking about how attitudes toward and experience with menstruation contribute to girls' and women's notions of what it means to be female, to be a woman. Building on the current relational framing of psychotherapy, that a cli-ent's conception of herself is tied to her efforts to connect with others, we argue that negative attitudes toward menstruation can cause females to be "disconnected" from one another. Taking a life span perspective, we discuss how adolescent girls receive mixed messages about menstruation , how college women reflect negative attitudes about menstruation, Margaret L. Stubbss is an independent scholar who is currently Research Associate at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing. She is studying the impact of acupuncture on hot flashes with Dr. Susan Cohen. Daryl Costos, a personality psychologist , is a lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Boston University where she teaches courses in psychology of women and research methods.

In this article, we draw from a body of research in the last 20 years, our own included, to suggest a framework for thinking about how attitudes toward and experience with menstruation contribute to girls' and women's notions of whatitmeans to be female, to be awoman. Building on the current relational framing of psychotherapy, that a client's conception of herself is tied to her efforts to connect with others, we argue that negative attitudes toward menstruation can cause females to be “disconnected” from one another. Taking a life span perspective, we discuss how adolescent girls receive mixed messages about menstruation, how college women reflect negative attitudes about menstruation, and how adult women's differing experiences with menstruation can lead to disconnection between women. Specifically, we find that negative attitudes toward menstruation can result in mother-daughter disconnection and put women at odds with one another with regard to how to manage menstrual distress, PMS, and menopause. We suggest that a biopsychosocial exploration of menstruation in feminist therapy is warranted and that mental health professionals can benefit from using such a framework as they seek to understand the presenting difficulties of female clients.

The nature of the communication between mothers and daughters at the time of menarche was examined in an attempt to determine the kinds of messages about menstruation that mothers tend to pass on to their daughters. The sample consisted of 138 women who ranged in age from 26 to 60 years (mean age = 43.2) at the time of the interviews. They were interviewed by 138 students enrolled in Psychology of Women classes taught by the first author. Participants were asked questions regarding their education about menstruation and their experience with menstruation. The content of the responses were analyzed for information about the quality and quantity of mother–daughter communication. The majority of daughters reported that communication with their mothers about menstruation was negative in tone. Eight types of negative messages were identified, including one labeled the grin-and-bear-it message. Two cases are presented to illustrate how the grin-and-bear-it message is related to the traditional feminine gender role and how it might negatively affect a woman's relationship with her mother and with other women.