Socio-Demographic Determinants and the Correlation of Menstruation-Related Knowledge and Attitude: A Cross-Sectional Study Among Adolescent School Girls in Tirupati district, Andhra Pradesh, India

Abstract

Menstrual health is a crucial feature of the well-being of adolescent girls which is strongly affected by socio-demographic factors such as parental education, income and cultural background. Low-resource areas have a high number of adolescent girls who have no idea about menstruation and that they have negative views about menstruation and this can affect their health and educational performance. Through improved methodology and adherence to the global best practices, it is hoped to determine the correlation between the socio-demographic background of school-going girls, their knowledge and attitude towards menstruation, and the same. The present cross-sectional study was done on 400 adolescent girls aged 12-17 who were recruited through multi-stage cluster sampling in six government schools in Chandragiri, Mangalam, Karakambaddi, Srikalahasti, Yerpedu and Vadamalapeta of Tirupati district in Andhra Pradesh state. The authors discovered that biological maturity and knowledge significantly increase with class level showing a sharp increase from 6th to 9th class. However, a 44.3% knowledge -practice gap persists regarding hygiene. Interestingly, paternal education and occupation do not significantly influence girl’s hygiene habits and social restrictions. The researchers concluded that the participants of the study have knowledge about menstrual hygiene and their attitudes towards menstrual hygiene were significantly higher with class levels.