THE EXPERIENCE OF BREAST DEVELOPMENT AND GIRLS STORIES ABOUT THE PURCHASE OF A BRA

Girls' experiences of secondary sexual characteristic development were explored via direct interview and protective techniques. In a pilot s tudy (Study 1), 30 White middle to upper middle class 6th-8th-grade gi rls were interviewed about how they felt about breast and pubic hair g rowth, their comfort discussing these events, and their information ac quisition. Breast growth was perceived as more important than hair gro wth, in part because the former is perceived as a more public event. F ew girls reported intensely negative feelings to either change. Since responses to the direct questions were limited, 80 White 6th-9th grade rs were asked to tell a story (using a semi structured interview techn ique) about a picture of an adolescent girl, adult female, and adult m ale in which the adult female was taking a bra out of a shopping bag ( Study 2). Affect, attitudes, and character alliances were coded. More girls attributed negative feelings to the father than to the mother ch aracter. Almost all girls describe the adolescent in the story as emba rrassed. The daughter and father characters were described as uncomfor table more often than the mother character (50% vs. 10%). Positive mat ernal affect in the stories was associated with more advanced pubertal status, positive body images, more positive emotional tone, and lower anxiety scores. Affect ascribed to the father and daughter characters was less likely to be associated with girls' psychological functionin g. Results are discussed in terms of the possible role of puberty upon parent-child relationships and communication.