Influence of SES and age on knowledge of menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls and young women’s of North Karnataka

Influence of SES and age on knowledge of menstrual hygiene among 560 adolescent girls and young women’s of North Karnataka was studied during 2015-16. Girls belonged to adolescent age group who attained menarche were selected from 28 villages of North Karnataka. The self-structured questionnaire was used to measure knowledge on menstrual hygiene. The Socio Economic Status (SES) of family was assessed by using Socio Economic Status scale developed by Agarwal et. al., (2005). Correlation was used to indicate the relationship between SES and age with knowledge on menstrual hygiene. The results revealed that mean age at menarche was 13.45 years in North Karnataka. With respect to SES totally 9.10 percent of families belonged to upper middle of SES and 76.78 percent belonged to lower middle of SES and 13.75 percent belonged to poor middle of SES. It was observed that 76.42 percent of respondents had low knowledge, while 23.57 percent of them were had high knowledge on menstrual knowledge. There was significant association and relationship found between SES and knowledge on menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls and young women. There was significant association and relationship found between age and knowledge on menstrual hygiene. Hence the study concluded that higher the SES and age higher the knowledge on menstrual hygiene.