Factors influencing the knowledge of rural adolescent girls and young women of northern Karnataka about reproductive health

The study was conducted during 2015–2016 to assess the knowledge level on reproductive health among rural adolescent girls and young women of northern Karnataka and also to know the factors influencing the knowledge. On the whole 560 respondents were selected. The mean age of the respondents was 15.9 years and their mean age at menarche was13.33 years. A self-structured questionnaire was used to collect information regarding reproductive health. Totally 9.10 per cent of the families belonged to upper middle, 78.21 per cent to lower middle and 12.68 per cent to poor middle class on socio-economic scale (SES). Majority of them (75.18%) were having moderate followed by low or high knowledge on reproductive health. The results revealed that there was a positive and significant association between SES and age of the respondents and reproductive health knowledge. It indicated that higher is the SES and age of the respondents better is their knowledge on reproductive health.