indian council of medical research - Pondicherry University DSpace ...

jb) Other ep~dem~olo~~cal methods
In the cross secttonal school rnorbld~ty survey. 11 was observed that the average age of
rnenarche was 14 3 ( ~ 3) 1 years Out of 248 girls 13 yean of age and above, 105 glds
(42 3%) had attalned rnenarche and were continuing In school
7.4 7 Marriage
(I) Ethnographic methods
Many people (12 11160, 75 6%) felt that g~rls should get mamed after the age of 20
years only About 63 8% thought that only then will she be responsible and strong
enough to bear ch~ldren However, some (24 4%) felt that they should get mamed
before 18 years because others would say something They felt that ~t was not nlce to
have an unmamed gld In the house The most Important requtslte for a glrl's mamage
was money Thls was clear from the observat~on that 85 6% felt that money was the
most essent~al requlslte In gettlng a g~d mamed Only 5 6% felt that education was
essent~al Some (23 4%) also felt that girls should be healthy and be capable of
worklng Most people (756%) thought that lack of money was the most common
reason for delay In a glrl's mamage However, a delayed mamage dld not affect the
status of the famlly In soclety Many people (65 0%) would lust thlnk that her tlme was
not good while some (24 4%) would not thlnk anythlng at all