The relationship between menarche knowledge and anxiety of school-age children in facing pre-menarche

Year 2025, Volume: 6 Issue: 1, 21 - 30, 30.03.2025

Sekar Ayu Rahmadani , İstiqomah İstiqomah

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15147784

Abstract

Anxiety in facing menarche is a mood characterized by worry and fear that something bad will happen during menarche. One of the anxiety factors that affect menarche is knowledge. Children who have an understanding of menstruation tend not to experience anxiety and see it as normal, while children who lack understanding about menstruation tend to feel anxious. The type of research used is quantitative research with correlational methods. The research subjects used were 63 girls aged 8-13 years who had not yet menarche. The sampling technique used was purposive sampling with the menarche knowledge scale for knowledge variables and the Z-SAS (Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale) scale for anxiety variables. Data were analyzed using Spearman's rho correlation. The results showed a negative relationship between menarche knowledge and anxiety which can be interpreted that the higher the knowledge of menarche, the lower the anxiety experienced by the individual and vice versa, the lower the knowledge of menarche, the higher the anxiety experienced by the individual. The novelty of this study lies in the pre-menarche phase, which is the period before the first menstruation. The focus on this stage is a novelty, because most studies more often discuss anxiety that occurs after menarche, not before. In addition, this study also explores the knowledge that school-age children have about menarche affecting their anxiety levels. The novelty lies in measuring children's knowledge on a topic that is generally considered taboo, as well as how this knowledge affects their perception of upcoming bodily changes. In order to reduce anxiety in school-age children related to menarche, schools, parents and health workers can work together in providing knowledge about menstruation so as to increase children's knowledge and reduce anxiety in facing menarche.

Keywords

anxiety , knowledge , menarche , school age , children

Thanks

The authors would like to express their deepest gratitude to all those who have supported the authors during the research process. Special thanks to Dr. Istiqomah, M.Si., for her invaluable guidance and very useful input for this research paper. In addition, the authors are grateful to the authors' family for their unwavering support and encouragement throughout this project. Finally, the authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments, which have significantly improved the quality of this work.

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