Menarche and Interest in Infants: Biological and Social Influences

Abstract

2 studies are reported in which 12-13-year-old girls, half of whom were premenarcheal and half post-menarcheal, responded to pictures of infants. In study 1, the 40 postmenarcheal girls preferred pictures of infants to those of adults more often than did their 40 premenarcheal peers. In the second study, 20 boys, 20 premenarcheal girls, and 20 postmenarcheal girls rated pictures of infants, peers, college students, and 30-50-year-olds. Only postmenarcheal girls rated infants more positively than boys did. Concurrent assessments of interest in motherhood, cognitive sophistication about the relationship between menarche and childbearing, attitudes toward menarche, and sex-role self-image did not differentiate pre- and postmenarcheal girls. The effects of experience with infants differed in the 2 studies.

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