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Open Access 01-12-2023 | Research

Parents' knowledge and predictions about the age of menarche: experimental evidence from Honduras

Authors: Michela Accerenzi, Pablo Brañas-Garza, Diego Jorrat

Published in: Archives of Public Health | Issue 1/2023

Abstract

Background

Access to accurate, timely and age-appropriate information about menarche is an essential part of menstrual health. Reliable evidence shows that girls primarily obtain information from their mothers and/or other female family members, therefore, it is important to determine parents’ knowledge and their predictions about other parents’ knowledge of the age of menarche.

Methods

To this end, we performed a pre-registered study with data collected from 360 households in Santa Rosa de Copán, Honduras. We implemented a novel procedure to avoid social desirability bias whereby participants answered two separated questions: i) their knowledge about the age of menarche (self-report) and ii) to predict or guess the modal response of the other participants regarding the same question (modal guess). Participants were paid according to accuracy. Both questions appeared randomly in the survey.

Results

Recent studies indicate the age of menarche at 12 years old and 56.11% of the sample gave the same response while 62.78% hit the modal value. We estimated the impact of different sociodemographic variables and found only marginal differences. Interestingly, people with formal education and women tend to respond with lower predictions.

Conclusion

Parents’ knowledge about the age of menarche is high in the study area. The study also found that there was no social desirability bias.

Available only for authorised users

To understand the magnitude of this phenomenon, see Menstrual Hygiene Day http://menstrualhygieneday.org, Menstrual Health Hub https://mhhub.org/, and Society for Menstrual Cycle Research http://menstruationresearch.org/.

While self-reported answers might be truthful or not, incentive compatible mechanisms (paid predictions) are strategy proof. In other words, a subject fares best by being truthful. For example, a country is having elections and there are two political parties: A and B. If a follower of party B is asked who will win, they will say B due to their own preferences/wishes, regardless of the true distribution of votes. In turn, a follower of party A would say A. However, if they are asked to “predict” the results and paid based on their accuracy then their best strategy would be to tell the truth, regardless of their own preferences.

The census is available at the Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas de Honduras webpage http://181.115.7.199/binhnd/RpWebEngine.exe/Portal?

The ex-ante answer might be any positive (integer) number, although we expected numbers between 8 and 16.

Although the study was conducted in the municipality of Choluteca, we consider it to be a good proxy for the situation of Santa Rosa de Copán as a whole.

The mean reported by minority groups is 12.10 while the mean reported by mestizos (majority) is 12.14. However, the difference between both groups is not significant (p = 0.74).

For each additional year of education, the age of menarche reported decreased by 0.3%.

Females report an average age of menarche of 12.10 while males report an average of 12.28. This difference is not significant (p = 0.25).

When MG is the second question, the mean is 12.06 and when it is the first, 12.20 (p = 0.08).

Both SR and MG show similar distributions: same mode, similar means (t-test, p > 0.40) and correlation (rho = 0.47 (p = 0.00). In fact, we cannot reject the null hypothesis that both variables present the same distribution (p > 0.80).

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Title: Parents' knowledge and predictions about the age of menarche: experimental evidence from Honduras
Authors: Michela Accerenzi
Pablo Brañas-Garza
Diego Jorrat
Publication date: 01-12-2023
Publisher: BioMed Central
Published in: Archives of Public Health / Issue 1/2023
Electronic ISSN: 2049-3258
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-023-01030-5

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Parents' knowledge and predictions about the age of menarche: experimental evidence from Honduras

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

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