Age at Menarche and Its Related Socioeconomic Factors: A Study on 10-16 Years Old Female Students in Tehran City, Iran

Malekian, MinooDokht; Vaez Mousavi, SeyedMohammadKazem; Ghasemi, Abdolah; Kashi, Ali

Volume 12 - Articles-1401 MEJDS (2022) 12: 219 | Back to browse issues page

Ethics code: (IR.SSRC.REC.1398.086)

Mendeley

Zotero

RefWorks

Malekian M, Vaez Mousavi S, Ghasemi A, Kashi A. Age at Menarche and Its Related Socioeconomic Factors: A Study on 10-16 Years Old Female Students in Tehran City, Iran. MEJDS 2022; 12 :219-219
URL: http://jdisabilstud.org/article-1-2635-en.html

Age at Menarche and Its Related Socioeconomic Factors: A Study on 10-16 Years Old Female Students in Tehran City, Iran

MinooDokht Malekian¹

, SeyedMohammadKazem Vaez Mousavi ^*²

, Abdolah Ghasemi³

, Ali Kashi⁴

1- PhD Student in Motor Behavior, Department of Physical Education and Sports Science, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
2- Professor of Imam Hossein University, Tehran, Iran
3- Assistant Professor, Department of Sports Science, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
4- Associate Professor, Department of Motor Learning and Control, Sport Sciences Research Institute, Tehran, Iran

Abstract: (903 Views)

Background & Objectives: Puberty is the process of sexual maturation and rapid growth that separates childhood from adulthood. Menarche, as a milestone, is the most important characteristic of adolescent girls students associated with psychological and social changes. The age at menarche varies by race and country of living, but changes in lifestyle, nutrition, body mass index, level of physical activity, family structure, socioeconomic status, and improvement in general health affect its onset. Because of the changes in the age of menarche over time, it is important to study it at different time intervals. Also, it is not clear about the difference between the age of menarche, its presence, and extent in adolescent girls in Tehran City, Iran, and its relationship with socioeconomic status. The present study investigated the distribution of menarche age and its relationship with socioeconomic status among female students aged 10 to 16 years in Tehran.
Methods: The present study was cross–sectional and descriptive correlational. The statistical population of the research was made up of female students aged 10–16 years in Tehran in the academic year of 2019–2020. So, 2302 students were randomly selected from the educational districts of Tehran, and of them, 2152 students answered the questionnaire completely and met the inclusion criteria for the study. The inclusion criteria were physical and mental health, as stated by the participants. The information of the present study was collected by a self–designed structured questionnaire that includes personal information, socioeconomic status (parental education level, family income, and family socioeconomic level), sports history, menarche status, and the exact age that occurred. Linear regression analysis test was used to investigate the relationship between menarche age and socioeconomic status. To describe and explain the age of menarche based on the predictor variables of physical activity and socioeconomic status (including parental education level, family socioeconomic level and family income level) used from univariate linear regression to predict a dependent variable (menarche age) by an independent variable (one of the variables of physical activity and socioeconomic status) and from multiple linear regression to predict the dependent variable (menarche age) by several independent variables (physical activity and socioeconomic status). All information in the questionnaires was calculated and analyzed by Excel (2016) and SPSS (version 23) software. The significance level in all cases was considered less than 0.05.
Results: According to the findings of this study, among 2152 eligible females, 1446 (67.2%) had experienced menarche. The mean ± SD age at menarche was 12.09±1.07 years. Based on the results of the Spearman correlation coefficient, the mother's education level (p=0.041) and the father's education level (p=0.043) had a significant relationship with girls' menarche age. However, the age of menarche was not significantly related to the socioeconomic status of the family (p=0.333), family income (p=0.295), and physical activity (p=0.797). Among the variables related to the menarche age, the multiple regression model introduced only the father's education level variable as the most important predictor variable, which had the highest correlation with the menarche age, and 0.3% (R²=0.003) of the changes in the girls' menarche age to dedicated itself. The results of the standardized beta coefficient indicated that there was a negative and significant relationship between the two variables of menarche age and the father's education level (p=0.025, Beta= –0.065).
Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that the mean age of menarche in this study was lower than in the previous study in Tehran girls. Also, the parental education level, especially the father’s education level, can provide favorable living conditions at the age of 10 to 16 years. Therefore, it is important to pay special attention to girls whose fathers have a high level of education to prevent early menarche by adjusting the environmental factors associated with menarche age.

Keywords: Menarche, Socioeconomic factors, Adolescent

Full-Text [PDF 536 kb] (286 Downloads)

Type of Study: Original Research Article | Subject: Psychology

References

1. Calthorpe L, Brage S, Ong KK. Systematic review and meta‐analysis of the association between childhood physical activity and age at menarche. Acta Paediatr. 2019;108(6):1008–15. [DOI]

2. Mastorci F, Piaggi P, Bastiani L, Trivellini G, Doveri C, Casu A, et al. The impact of menarche on health-related quality of life in a sample of Italian adolescents: evidence from school-based AVATAR project. Eur J Pediatr. 2020;179(6):973–8. [DOI]

3. Cheng M, Yao Y, Zhao Y, Lin Y, Gao S, Xie J, et al. The influence of socioeconomic status on menarcheal age among Chinese school-age girls in Tianjin, China. Eur J Pediatr. 2021;180(3):825–32. [DOI]

4. Karapanou O, Papadimitriou A. Determinants of menarche. Reprod Biol Endocrinol. 2010;8(1):115. [DOI]

5. Cole TJ. The secular trend in human physical growth: a biological view. Econ Hum Biol. 2003;1(2):161–8. [DOI]

6. Kim HS, Choe BM, Park JH, Kim SH. Early menarche and risk-taking behavior in Korean adolescent students. Asia Pac Psychiatry. 2017;9(3):e12273. [DOI]

7. Wronka I, Pawlińska-Chmara R. Menarcheal age and socio-economic factors in Poland. Ann Hum Biol. 2005;32(5):630–8. [DOI]

8. Szwed A, John A, Czapla Z, Kosińska M. Influence of socioeconomic factors on age at menarche of Polish girls. Anthropological Scoreboard. 2013;70(4):455–70. [DOI]

9. Anderson SE, Must A. Interpreting the continued decline in the average age at menarche: results from two nationally representative surveys of U.S. girls studied 10 years apart. J Pediatr. 2005;147(6):753–60. [DOI]

10. Lee MH, Kim SH, Oh M, Lee KW, Park MJ. Age at menarche in Korean adolescents: trends and influencing factors. Reprod Health. 2016;13(1):121. [DOI]

11. Mohammad K, Zaraati H, Majdzadeh SR, Karimloo M. Evaluating the trend of change in the mean onset age of menarche in Iranian girls. J Reprod Infertil. 2006;6(5):523–30. [Persian]

12. Bahrami N, Soleimani MA, Chan YH, Ghojazadeh M, Mirmiran P. Menarche age in Iran: a meta-analysis. Iran J Nurs Midwifery Res. 2014;19(5):444–50.

13. Ghodratnama A, Heidarinejad S, Davoodi I. The relationship between socio–economic status and the rate of physical activity in Shahid Chamran university Students of Ahwaz. Journal of Sport Management. 2013;5(16):5–20. [Persian] [Article]

14. Ramezani Tehrani F, Mirmiran P, Gholami R, Moslehi N, Ghanbarian A, Azizi F. Correlation between menarcheal age and certain demographic characteristics. Iranian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism. 2013;15(1):52–8. [Persian]

15. Onland-Moret NC, Peeters PHM, van Gils CH, Clavel-Chapelon F, Key T, Tjønneland A, et al. Age at menarche in relation to adult height. American Journal of Epidemiology. 2005;162(7):623–32. [DOI]

16. Juul F, Chang VW, Brar P, Parekh N. Birth weight, early life weight gain and age at menarche: a systematic review of longitudinal studies: birth weight early life weight gain and age at menarche. Obes Rev. 2017;18(11):1272–88. [DOI]

17. Bubach S, De Mola CL, Hardy R, Dreyfus J, Santos AC, Horta BL. Early menarche and blood pressure in adulthood: systematic review and meta-analysis. J Public Health. 2018;40(3):476–84. [DOI]

18. Zhang Z, Hu X, Yang C, Chen X. Early age at menarche is associated with insulin resistance: a systemic review and meta-analysis. Postgrad Med. 2019;131(2):144–50. [DOI]

19. Davies A, Wellard-Cole L, Rangan A, Allman-Farinelli M. Validity of self-reported weight and height for BMI classification: a cross-sectional study among young adults. Nutrition. 2020;71:110622. [DOI]

20. Noipayak P, Rawdaree P, Supawattanabodee B, Manusirivitthaya S. Factors associated with early age at menarche among Thai adolescents in Bangkok: a cross-sectional study. BMC Women’s Health. 2017;17(1):16. [DOI]

21. Hossain MdG, Wee AS, Ashaie M, Kamarul T. Adult anthropometric measures and socio-demographic factors influencing age at menarche of university students in Malaysia. J Biosoc Sci. 2013;45(5):705–17. [DOI]

22. Zameni L, Bahram A, Khalaji H, Ghadiri F, Zafari M. Age at menarche and its biosocial correlates in adolescents of Mazandaran province in 2017. The J Urmia Nurs Midwifery Fac. 2018;16(8):535–43. [Persian] [Article]

23. Pierce M, Hardy R. Commentary: the decreasing age of puberty—as much a psychosocial as biological problem? Int J Epidemiol. 2012;41(1):300–2. [DOI]

24. Nieczuja-Dwojacka J, Borowska-Strugińska B, Janiszewska A, Kozieł S. Influence of socioeconomic factors during adolescence on the menarcheal age in Central Poland girls. Anthranz. 2019;76(1):29–35. [DOI]

25. Yermachenko A, Dvornyk V. Nongenetic determinants of age at menarche: a systematic review. BioMed Research International. 2014;2014:1–14. [DOI]

26. Gharravi AM, Gharravi S, Marjani A, Moradi A, Golalipour MJ. Correlation of age at menarche and height in Iranian student girls living in Gorgan-northeast of Iran. J Pak Med Assoc. 2008;58(8):426–9.

27. Ameade EPK, Garti HA. Age at menarche and factors that influence it: a study among female university students in Tamale, Northern Ghana. Plos One. 2016;11(5):e0155310. [DOI]