This study shows that the age of menstruating girls ranged from 14 to 17 years, maximum (76.25%) number of girls being between 14 and 15 years of age group.

Among 160 respondents in the present study, 152 (95%) were Hindus, whereas only eight (5%) girls were Muslims. Fathers of most of the girls were farmers (45%), followed by businessmen (26.25%), service holders (12.5%) and daily wage labourers (8.75%). Mothers of most of the respondents were housewives (93.75%).

Table 1 show that 108 (67.5%) girls were aware about menstruation prior to attainment of menarche. Among 160 respondents, mother was the first informant only in case of 60 (37.5%) girls. Other sources of information were friends and relatives in case of 46 (28.75%) girls and two (1.25%) girls, respectively. In the present study, the mean age of menarche of the respondents was 12.8 years.

Table 2 shows the different beliefs and conception about menstruation among the respondents. It was observed that 138 (86.25%) girls believed it as a physiological process. Ten (6.25%) girls believed it as a curse of God, eight (5%) girls believed that it was a disease and four (2.5%) girls believed it be result of some sin. Most of the girls (97.5%) did not know about the source of bleeding. More than half of the girls (51.25%) were ignorant about the use of sanitary pads during menstruation.

Table 3 depicting the practices during menstruation shows that 18 (11.25%) girls used sanitary pads during menstruation, 68 (42.5%) girls used old cloth pieces and 10 (6.25%) girls used new cloth pieces. Sixty-four (40%) girls used both cloth pieces and sanitary pads during menstruation. Cleanliness of external genitalia was unsatisfactory (frequency of cleaning of external genitalia is 0-1/day) in case of 24 (15%) girls. For cleaning purpose, 156 (97.5%) girls used both soap and water.

More than half of the respondents (51.25%) did not possess a covered toilet. Regarding the method of disposal of the used material, 118 (73.75%) girls reused cloth pieces and 92 (57.5%) girls properly disposed the cloth pieces or sanitary pads used, i.e. they wrap the used cloth piece or sanitary pad in a paper bag and disposed in a place used for solid waste disposal.