Department of Psychology and Gender, and Sexuality Studies, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA.
Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA.
J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2021 Dec;30(12):1751-1760. doi: 10.1089/jwh.2020.8757. Epub 2021 Mar 25.
Women differ in how they psychologically respond to the end of menstruation and onset of menopause; however, little empirical evidence exists for understanding how sexual orientation and gendered dynamics contribute to menstrual experiences in middle-to-late adulthood. We investigated if women's attitudes toward the cessation of menstruation vary by their sexual orientation. Using data from the Midlife in the United States Study (MIDUS, = 3471), we examined the relationship between women's sexual orientation and attitudes toward menstruation cessation. We also assessed their femininity concerns, such as their worries about attractiveness and fertility in the context of aging. Sexual minority (SM) women, compared with their heterosexual counterparts, expressed less regret of their menstrual periods ending. SM women also expressed lower concerns about femininity compared with heterosexual women, and concerns about femininity mediated the relationship between sexual orientation and regret. That is, SM women felt less regret about menstrual periods ending than heterosexual women, and this finding was partially explained through SM women's lower concerns about femininity (attractiveness and fertility). Our results contribute to a growing body of research on the psychological strengths of sexual minorities by highlighting SM women's potential strengths in an aging context. We propose implications for understanding aging stigma and women's health, and we discuss how menopause may be differently experienced by women based on sexual orientation.
女性在心理上对绝经和更年期的反应方式不同；然而，几乎没有实证证据可以理解性取向和性别动态如何影响中年后期的月经经历。我们调查了女性对绝经的态度是否因性取向而异。 使用来自美国中年研究（MIDUS，n=3471）的数据，我们研究了女性性取向与对绝经态度之间的关系。我们还评估了她们的女性特质担忧，例如她们在衰老背景下对吸引力和生育能力的担忧。 与异性恋女性相比，性少数群体（SM）女性对月经结束的遗憾较少。与异性恋女性相比，SM 女性对女性特质的担忧也较低，而对女性特质的担忧则调节了性取向和遗憾之间的关系。也就是说，SM 女性对绝经结束的遗憾感低于异性恋女性，而这一发现部分可以通过 SM 女性对女性特质（吸引力和生育能力）的担忧程度较低来解释。 我们的研究结果通过突出性少数群体在衰老背景下的潜在优势，为性少数群体的心理优势的研究做出了贡献。我们提出了理解老龄化污名和女性健康的影响，并讨论了性取向可能如何影响女性对更年期的体验。
