The impact of menarche on gender identity, sexual identity, and relationships: A qualitative investigation into the lived experience of Latina adolescents in an urban school

Menarche represents the juncture between girlhood and womanhood. This study investigates the phenomenological pubertal experiences of eight Dominican and Puerto Rican girls between the ages of fifteen and seventeen. The study explores the meanings that participants make out of these experiences, how these meanings help to shape their gender and sexual identities as they progress towards womanhood, and how their relationships change as a result of pubertal changes. For the study's participants, menarche was understood as meaningful within a series of pubertal events. Mothers were important figures in helping the girls to make sense out of menarche. As participants matured, they became increasingly preoccupied with both hygiene and appearance. They reacted to bodily changes with feelings of both wanting to hide and display their bodies. Participants found themselves increasingly controlled by parents as they grew and changed. Despite increased conflict with parents, participants retained close relationships with family members, especially mothers. As they progressed through adolescence, participants attended more closely to protecting their sexual reputations; as well, fears of sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy pervaded the girls' thoughts and influenced their relationships as well as identity development. Strategies for protecting themselves against interpersonal threats that emerged in their post-pubertal social landscape included: defining themselves against "other" girls, avoiding romantic relationships altogether or mitigating their risks by adhering strictly to a set of rules, and forging a hard emotional exterior. These methods of protection proved adaptive and necessary, but often precluded participants from developing intimate relationships with peers. Ultimately, participants expressed ambivalence about both menarche and femaleness. They felt both bodily shame and pride in their changing bodies. They denigrated femaleness in their desire to define themselves against "other" (deviant) girls and to rise above negative female qualities such as relational aggression. However, they also identified strength and independence as positives female qualities and sought to emulate their mothers.