Family Life Education and Menstrual Practices among Unmarried Adolescent Women of Urban India

Rajiva Prasad, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
Puspita Datta, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

Family life education (FLE) to unmarried adolescents’ women is a taboo in India. The DLHS 3 collected information on FLE and menstrual practices from urban unmarried women aged 15-24. More than half had level of education high school and above, two third were Hindus and one fifth Muslims. Three fourth women were aware of FLE, four fifth perceived FLE as important, half of them had received FLE while three fifth perceived right ages for getting FLE as 15 -17 years. Eighty percent thought its right place as school/ college and time as Std. 8 or 9. One fourth opined that they could get pregnant during very first sexual intercourse. One fifth had painful and short or frequent/irregular periods and used cloth/ locally made / sanitary napkins. The logistic regression indicated awareness more among richest women who perceived FLE important and had ever received FLE. Educated women practiced more menstrual hygiene.