Attitude towards menstruation by female in-school adolescents: A comparative cross-sectional study in southwest Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Menarche and menstruation are natural procedures in a girl’s transition to womanhood. Lack of awareness thereof, before menarche and stigmatizing menstrual hygiene management (MHM) experiences predominate in low resource economies and influences attitude. The study aims to determine and compare the attitude of adolescents attending public and private schools on menstruation and MHM in the study area.Methods: The cross-sectional study recruited 357 respondents, comprising of 177 and 180 female adolescents from public and private schools through a three-stage sampling technique. The study administered a validated, semi-structured questionnaire that was facilitated self-administered. Descriptive and inferential statistics presented results, while binary logistic regression identified predictors of attitude at Pά0.05.Results: Except for religion, other socio-demographic characteristics (age, class, ethnicity, whom adolescents’ lives with, highest education and wealth) were significantly different between public and private schools. However, respondents in public schools were older (15.4±1.75 years) when compared with those attending private schools (14.3±1.18 years). On attitude, negative feelings and openness scales were significantly different between respondents attending public and private schools, while those of positive feelings, menstrual symptoms, acceptance of menarche and living with menstruation were respectively similar at Pα0.05. Overall attitude scale indicated a higher negative rating (87.4) when compared with a positive score (12.6%). With a positive attitude as a reference, ethnicity was the only negative attitude predictor (Pα0.05).Conclusions: Adolescents attending public and private schools have negative attitudes toward menstruation and MHM. Therefore, awareness and puberty education through ethnic constructs, on menstruation and MHM before menarche is indispensable to improve their attitude.