Attitudes Towards Menstrual Health by Female In-School Adolescents: A Comparative Cross-Sectional Study in Southwest Nigeria

Abstract

Poor awareness and stigmatising experiences influence menstrual attitudes. The study compared menstruators’ cognitive attitudes towards menstrual health (MH) in public and private schools. A three-stage sampling identified respondents and outcomes reported by descriptive and inferential statistics (p < 0.05). Negative feelings (20.3% vs. 12.2%), Openness (7.3% vs. 17.2%) and living with menstruation (38.% vs. 63.9%) were significantly different, while positive feelings (36.2% vs 30.6%), menstrual symptoms (22.6% vs. 30.0%) and menarche acceptance (28.% vs. 35.6%) were similar. Negative attitude predominates (87.4%) and is negatively predicted by Yoruba ethnicity (77.9%). Overall, menstruators exhibited negative menstrual attitudes. Puberty education through ethnic constructs is recommended to improve attitudes.

Keywords:

• Menarche
• menstrual attitude
• openness
• feelings
• menstrual symptoms
• Nigeria

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledged the immeasurable support of the State Ministry of Education, the headteachers and Parent Teachers Associations in the four selected schools, and the respondents’ parents for their support and cooperation during the field data collection. We appreciate the respondents’ time and patience, whose efforts led to the data presented in this manuscript.

Authors’ Contributions

OOA and JNU conceived while all authors contributed to the study design; JNU, OAL, GOO, POA, and OO supervised field data collection, entry, analyses, and interpretation of the summary tables. OAA and JNU wrote the introduction and methods. GOO, OAL, and OO wrote the first draft of the results while OO coordinated feedback to improve the draft manuscript. Finally, all authors contributed to the discussion and abstract write-up and vetted and approved the final draft.

Availability of Data and Materials

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.