Age at Menarche of Rural Girls and their Experiences about It

Two hundred rural teenage girls (15-17 yrs) who had attained menarche 2-4 yrs back were selected at random from the purposely chosen 8 villages of Omerga taluka of Osmanabad district (MS). The data were collected by personally interviewing the sample girls. The age at menarche of these girls was between 13yrs and 14 yrs. Significantly a higher percentage of the middle income group (MIG) girls were guided by their families about menstrual management as compared to their counter part girls in the low income group(LIG). Irrespective of the economic status, considerably a low percentage of the rural girls were recorded to have special support with regard to diet, relaxation in doing household chores and affectionate/social treatment. The findings advocate that there is a great need to educate rural girls about pubertal changes and how to cope up with them prior to attaining menarche in order to have comfortable and healthy life.