Comparing the attitudes of urban and rural Iranian women toward menopause.

OBJECTIVES

This study was designed to compare the attitudes of urban and rural Iranian women toward menopause. The socio-cultural context of urban Tehranian women is considerably more westernized than that of rural Semiromian women. Our original hypothesis was that urban Tehranian women would have a more negative outlook on menopause than rural women. This hypothesis was drawn from previous work implicating the youth-oriented culture of the west as responsible for the negative attitude of western women toward menopause.

METHODS

A questionnaire with eight questions regarding major psychosocial issues that are of importance to menopausal women was prepared and administered to a group of 70 Tehranian and 49 Semiromian women.

RESULTS

In contrast to the initial hypothesis, analysis revealed that rural Iranian women have a more negative attitude towards menopause than urban Iranian women.

CONCLUSION

The more negative attitude of the rural women toward menopause in large part reflected the higher priority they placed on fertility than did their urban counterparts. Further, cross-cultural studies will illuminate exactly which social and cultural factors play a role in both the physical and psychological aspects of menopause.