Title: A Study on Socio-Cultural Practices during Menstruation among Adolescent Girls of Jabalpur District
Authors: Dr Shubhangi Nayak, Dr Neelam Toppo, Dr Shashi Prabha Tomar, Dr Pradeep Kasar
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v4i3.15
Background -Adolescence is defined by United Nations as the period of life from age 10 to 19 years Adolescents girls attain menarche during this phase. There are many socio cultural taboos practised during menstruation. Objective- To assess the socio cultural practices by adolescent girls during menstruation in rural and urban areas of Jabalpur district. Materials and Methods-A cross sectional study was conducted in rural and urban areas of Jabalpur district. 400 adolescent girls (200 rural and 200 urban) were randomly selected as study subjects. A pre- designed questionnaire was used. Results-In our study average age of menarche in adolescent girls was 13.41 ± 1.015 years with the range of 10-16 years.. The social changes perceived by the adolescent girls after onset of menarche were mother becoming more strict, cessation of cooking, cessation of schooling, initiation of talk about marriage etc. Conclusion- Onset of menarche had imposed various restrictions on adolescent girls even within the household. This difference was probably due to the lack of awareness and due to the association of more stigmas with menstruation in the rural areas as compared to the urban areas. Keywords-Adolescents, socio-cultural taboos, menstruation. 1. Kushwah S S, Mittal A. Perceptions and practice with regard to reproductive health among out-of-school adolescents. Indian J Community Med 2007;32:141-3. 2. P. V. Kotecha, Sangita V. Patel, V. S. Mazumdar, R. K. Baxi, Shobha Misra, Mansi Diwanji,Harsh Bakshi, Ekta Modi, Sandeep Shah, and Kalpita Shringarpure. Reproductive health awareness among urban school going adolescents in Vadodara city. Indian J Psychiatry. 2012 Oct-Dec; 54(4): 344–348. 3. Esimai O A, Esan GO. Awareness of menstrual abnormality amongst college students in urban area of Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. Indian J Community Med 2010;35:63-6. 4. Dasgupta A, Sarkar M. Menstrual Hygiene: How Hygienic is the Adolescent Girl?. Indian Journal of Community Medicine 2008; 33(2):77-80. 5. Subhash B. Thakre, Sushama S. Thakre, Monica Reddy, Nidhi Rathi, Ketaki Pathak, Suresh Ughad.Menstrual Hygiene: Knowledge and Practice among Adolescent School Girls of Saoner, Nagpur District. Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research. 2011 October, Vol-5(5): 1027-1033. 6. Narayan KA, Shrivastava, DK, Pelto PJ, Veerapmmal S. Puberty rituals, reproductive and sexual health of adolescent school girls of south India. Asia Pacific Population Journal June, 2001; 16:225-38. 7. Omidwar S, Begum K. Factors which influence the hygienic practices during menses among girls from south India: A cross sectional study. International Journal of Collaborative Research on Internal Medicine and Public Health 2010; 2:411-423.Abstract
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