“Everyone was sort of just like ‘ew’”: Adolescent athletes’ experiences of menstruation in sport

Abstract

Young girls often avoid being physically active due to physical and psychological symptoms of menstruation. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to explore youth athletes’ experiences of menstruation in sport. Seven female athletes between 16 and 18 years old took part in semi-structured interviews. Interpretive Description methodology (Thorne, 2016) was used, and interview transcripts were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006, 2022). Athletes experienced several physical and emotional symptoms throughout the menstrual cycle which were perceived to impact performance. Overall, athletes felt there was not enough support available for dealing with menstruation due to stigma and lack of education. This also influenced coach-athlete communication, along with other factors, such as coach gender, age, and coach-athlete relationship. Moving forward, young athletes would like more support in the form of education for athletes and coaches, and more representation and destigmatization of the topic of menstruation. Lay Summary: This study explored adolescent athletes’ experiences of menstruation in sport. Following interviews with seven female athletes, we found that athletes faced a variety of challenges when dealing with their menstrual cycle in sport, but not enough support was provided due to stigma and a lack of education.