Using the Menstrual Attitude Questionnaire with a British and an Indian sample

Abstract

The Menstrual Attitude Questionnaire (MAQ) was developed on US undergraduates and has been used in a variety of cultural contexts. This study uses confirmatory factor analysis to investigate whether the factor structure is confirmed in a British (response rate 86%, N = 112) and a (largely Hindu) Indian (100% response, N = 127) female undergraduate sample. The British data did not show good fit (comparative fit index 0.52), although the signs for the factor loadings were consistent with those found with the US sample and the sizes were often similar. The fit for the Indian sample is extremely poor (comparative fit index 0.21), and the signs of the factor loadings were often different to those for the US and British samples. British students showed stronger agreement with items on premenstrual changes. The Indian students showed stronger agreement with items about tiredness and not expecting so much of oneself. The findings are consistent with previous research with Indian samples. The results suggest that the MAQ factor structure is not appropriate to other cultures. Future quantitative cross-cultural research in this area should avoid simple comparisons of factor scores and use more sophisticated statistical modelling techniques now available.