Knowledge and attitude regarding pubertal changes among pre-adolescents – A descriptive survey study

To assess the knowledge and attitude regarding pubertal changes among pre – adolescents (girls and boys). Material and Method: A descriptive study design was adopted with 204 pre-adolescents (104girls and 100 boys) of age group 12-14yrs. selected by purposive sampling technique from two different Government schools of Ambala District. Knowledge and attitude was assessed using structured knowledge questionnaire and 5 point likert scale respectively. The reliability coefficient of structured knowledge questionnaire for girls was found 0.74 and for boys 0.77 by Kudar Richardson-20 formula and for attitude scale it was found 0.79 for girls and 0.766 for boys by Cronbach’s alpha. Results: Majority of pre- adolescent girls and boys (75%), (74%) had below average knowledge regarding pubertal changes followed by 25 % girls and 24%boys had average level of knowledge and in levels of attitude, Majority of pre- adolescent girls and boys (95.19%), (90%) had moderately favourable attitude regarding pubertal changes followed by 3.84% girls and 10%boys had unfavorable level of attitude. This indicates that percentage of pre- adolescent girls and boys having below average knowledge and moderately favorable attitude is maximum Coefficient of correlation of pre - adolescent girls and boys as evidenced by the computed r value (-0.178) and (-0.025) was found to be not significantly correlated at 0.05 level of significance. Computed anova /t value of Occupational status of father (F=3.968; p=0.005) was found to be statistically significant with attitude scores of pre-adolescent girls at 0.05 level of significance, it denotes the association of occupational status of father with attitude scores of pre-adolescent girls. In pre-adolescent boys, education status of mother (F=2.525; p=0.046) was found to be statistically significant with knowledge scores and Educational Status of father (F=2.571; p=0.043) was found to be statistically significant with attitude scores at 0.05 level of significance. Conclusion: The finding of study revealed that pre-adolescent girls and boys knowledge and attitude regarding pubertal changes was not adequate and favourable respectively.