Do Sexual Myths Affect Menopause Attitudes and Symptoms?

Abstract

Objective: Sexual myths are common in societies because of the lack of formal education about life-long sexuality. While sexual life is affected by many factors, it also affects many areas of life. Attitudes and symptoms experienced during menopause, which is one of the basic life periods of women, are unique and can be affected by many factors. To examine the relationship between sexual myths and menopausal symptoms and attitudes to menopause in postmenopausal women. Methods: The study had a descriptive analytical design and the study sample included 424 postmenopausal women. Data were gathered with personal characteristics form and the self-report tools Sexual Myths Scale, Menopausal Attitude Assessment Scale and Menopause Rating Scale. Results: The mean age of the women was 57.12±5.60 years and the mean duration of menopause was 10.58±7.02 years. The mean score on Sexual Myths Scale was 92.28±17.80, the mean score on Menopausal Attitude Assessment Scale was 27.86±8.06 and the mean score on Menopause Rating Scale was 17.11±9.43. There was not a relation between the score on Sexual Myths Scale and the mean score on Menopausal Attitude Assessment Scale (r=-0.067, p=0.168), but there was a significant, positive weak relation between the mean score on Sexual Myths Scale and the mean score on Menopause Rating Scale (r=0.125, p=0.010). Conclusions: The postmenopausal women had a fairly high level of sexual myths. Sexual myths had a significant, positive relation with menopausal symptoms and their severity, though the relation was weak. Also, sexual myths had no relation with attitudes to menopause.