In a study examining the effects of a social stigma on impression management concerns, 28 menstruating and 30 nonmenstruating women were interviewed by a male confederate who either was or was not aware of their menstrual condition. Relative to menstruating women who thought the interviewer was unaware of their menstrual condition, menstruating women who believed that the interviewer knew they were menstruating perceived that the interviewer liked them less, yet were less motivated to make an impression on him. Nonmenstruating women reported more self-presentational motivation and perceived that the interviewer viewed them more positively than he did the menstruating women. These results suggest that the interviewer's knowledge of their menstrual condition inhibited menstruating women's self-presentational motivation. Implications of this social stigma for interpersonal relationships are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ApslerR. (1975). Effects of embarrassment on behavior toward others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32, 145–153
2.
BaumeisterR. F.JonesE. E. (1978). When self-presentation is constrained by the target's knowledge: Consistency or compensation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 608–618
3.
Brooks-GunnJ.RubleD. N. (1980). The Menstrual Attitude Questionnaire. Psychosomatic Medicine, 42, 503–512
4.
Brooks-GunnJ.RubleD. N. (1983). Dysmenorrhea in adolescence. In GolubS. (Ed.), Menarche (pp. 251–261). Lexington, MA: Lexington Books
5.
BrownB. R.GarlandH. (1971). The effects of incompetency, audience acquaintanceship, and anticipated evaluative feedback on face-saving behavior. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 7, 490–502
6.
BrumbergJ. J. (1997). The body project: An intimate history of American girls. New York: Vintage Books
7.
CouttsL.BergD. H. (1993). The portrayal of the menstruating woman in menstrual product advertisements. Health Care for Women International, 14, 179–191
8.
CrockerJ.MajorB.SteeleC. (1998). Social stigma. In GilbertD. T.FiskeS. T.LindzeyG. (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 504–553). New York: Oxford
9.
DelaneyJ.LuptonM. J.TothE. (1988). The curse: A cultural history of menstruation. Urbana: University of Illinois Press
10.
FarinaA.AllenJ. G.SaulB. B. (1968). The role of the stigmatized person in affecting social relationships. Journal of Personality, 36, 169–182
11.
FarinaA.GlihaD.BoudreauL. A.AllenJ. G.ShermanM. (1971). Mental illness and the impact of believing others know about it. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 77, 1–5
12.
GoffmanE. (1963). Stigma. New York: Simon & Schuster
13.
JonesE. E.FarinaA.HastorfA. H.MarkusH.MillerD. T.ScottR. A. (1984). Social stigma: The psychology of marked relationships. New York: W. H. Freeman
14.
KalbfleischP. J.BonnellK. H.HarrisT. M. (1996). Media portrayals of women's menstrual health issues. In ParrottR. L.ConditC. M. (Eds.), Evaluating women's health messages (pp. 279–292). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
15.
LearyM. R. (1983). Social anxiousness: The construct and its measurement. Journal of Personality Assessment, 47, 66–75
16.
LearyM. R. (1995). Self-presentation: Impression management and interpersonal behavior. Dubuque, IA: Brown & Benchmark
17.
LearyM. R.KowalskiR. M. (1990). Impression management: A literature review and two-component model. Psychological Bulletin, 107, 34–47
18.
LearyM. R.KowalskiR. M. (1995). Social anxiety. New York: Guilford
19.
LearyM. R.SchreindorferL. S. (1998). The stigmatization of HIV, and AIDS. In DerlegaV.BarbeeA. P. (Eds.), HIV and social interaction (pp. 12–29). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
20.
LipsH. M. (1988). Sex and gender. Mountain View, CA: May-field
21.
McFarlandC.RossM. (1982). Impact of causal attributions on affective reactions to success and failure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43, 937–946
22.
ModiglianiA. (1971). Embarrassment, facework, and eye contact: Testing a theory of embarrassment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 17, 15–24
23.
PattersonE. T.HaleE. S. (1985). Making sure: Integrating menstrual care practices into activities of daily living. Advances in Nursing Research, 7, 18–31
24.
RosenbergM. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press
25.
SchlenkerB. R. (1975). Self-presentation: Managing the impression of consistency when reality interferes with self-enhancement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32, 1030–1037
26.
SchlenkerB. R. (1980). Impression management: The self-concept, social identity, and interpersonal relations. Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole
27.
SiegelS. J. (1986). The effect of culture on how women experience menstruation: Jewish women andmikvah. Women & Health, 10, 63–74
28.
SnowL. F.JohnsonS. M. (1978). Myths about menstruation: Victims of our folklore. International Journal of Women's Studies, 24, 64–72
29.
Tampax report. (1981). New York: Ruder, Finn, & Rotman
30.
UngerR.CrawfordM. (1996). Women and gender: A feminist psychology (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill
31.
WeidegerP. (1976). Menstruation and menopause. New York: Knopf
