Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-2025

Keywords

content analysis, education standards, menstrual health education, period poverty, public school

Abstract

Background: Exploratory study aiming to assess the prevalence and time of initiation of menstrual health curriculum in US public school education standards by state. Methods: US public school Kindergarten-12th grade education standards from each state's Department of Education website, including D.C. (n = 51), were searched for menstruation, menstrual, menses, menopause, period, menarche, reproduction, puberty, and growth and development. Results25.5% (n = 13) of US education standards include menstruation. Of these, constructs of comprehensive menstrual health were recorded including abnormal menstruation (n = 6), menstrual hygiene (n = 6), menopause (n = 1), and stigma (n = 7). Education is initiated in 3rd-5th grade (n = 6) and 6th-8th grade (n = 7). One state required boys and girls to be taught separately. Parents opt-out choice is allowed in (n = 6) and (n = 6) requires certified teachers. Policy Implications: Isolating menstrual education as an independent framework is needed to advocate for educational inclusion in US public schools. Conclusions: Menstrual health education is profoundly rare in US K-12 public education standards, despite 50 million students being impacted. Furthermore, comprehensive menstrual education does not currently exist in US education standards.

Comments

Web of Science

Wiley

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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