Awareness of Sexual and Reproductive Health among School Going Adolescents of Thiruvananthapuram Corporation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51957/Healthline_871_2026Keywords:
Puberty, Reproductive Health Services, Sexual behaviour, Sex Education, Sexually transmitted diseasesAbstract
Introduction: Despite escalating adolescent reproductive health risks, high-literacy regions like Kerala exhibit a paradox where advanced development indicators mask critical youth knowledge gaps.
Objectives: This study aims to assess sexual and reproductive health (SRH) awareness and its key determinants among higher secondary school students in the urban setting of Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, Kerala.
Methods: A school based cross sectional study was conducted among 420 adolescents in ten higher secondary schools of Thiruvananthapuram corporation. Stratified two-stage cluster sampling was employed to select the study participants. Data was collected using self-administered semi structured questionnaire. Chi square test was done to find out factors associated with higher awareness and multivariable analysis was done using binary logistic regression.
Results: Majority (67.9%) of the study participants had moderate awareness. In the domain of pregnancy half of the participants had poor awareness. Less than two thirds of participants could identify STD other than HIV/AIDs. Only half (49%) of the participants had received formal sex education. Studying in the biology stream (p = 0.002), following the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) syllabus (p = 0.01), and the ability to communicate about sex-related matters with cousins (p = 0.008) were significant determinants of sexual and reproductive health awareness on multivariable analysis.
Conclusions: Most participants had only moderate sexual and reproductive health awareness, with notable gaps in awareness of pregnancy, STDs, social and legal aspects. Awareness was significantly influenced by academic stream, syllabus, and the ability to discuss sex-related matters with cousins.
References
1. Sexual health [Internet]. World Health Organization; [cited 2026 Feb 14]. Available from: https://www.who.int/teams/sexual-and-reproductive-health-and-research-(srh)/areas-of-work/sexual-health
2. Reproductive health [Internet]. World Health Organization; [cited 2026 Feb 14]. Available from: https://www.who.int/southeastasia/health-topics/reproductive-health
3. Adolescent health [Internet]. World Health Organization; [cited 2026 Feb 14]. Available from: https://www.who.int/health-topics/adolescent-health
4. Sawyer SM, Azzopardi PS, Wickremarathne D, Patton GC. The age of adolescence. Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2018;2(3):223-228. doi:10.1016/S2352-4642(18)30022-1. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(18)30022-1
5. Adolescent development and participation [Internet]. UNICEF India; [cited 2026 Feb 14]. Available from: https://www.unicef.org/india/what-we-do/adolescent-development-participation
6. Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) [Internet]. World Health Organization; [cited 2026 Mar 14]. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/sexually-transmitted-infections-(stis)
7. Adolescent pregnancy [Internet]. World Health Organization; [cited 2026 Mar 14]. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-pregnancy
8. Confederation of Indian Industry. CII 2020. Volume 1 [Internet]. [cited date unknown]. Available from: https://www.thehinducentre.com/resources/article36608197.ece/binary/CII2020Volume1.pdf
9. International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), ICF. National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), 2019–21: India. Mumbai: IIPS; 2021.
10. Gadkari RP, Somani G, Nayak CS, Giri AS. A study for sexual health awareness in adolescent population (13-18 years) attending dermatology OPD. Indian Journal of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and AIDS 2012;33(2):148. doi:10.4103/0253-7184.102140 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/0253-7184.102140
11. Sharma S, Sharma P. Reproductive health problems and their awareness among adolescent girls: a clinical study. International Journal of Reproduction, Contraception, Obstetrics and Gynecology 2019;8(10):3870–3. doi:10.18203/2320-1770.ijrcog20194207 DOI: https://doi.org/10.18203/2320-1770.ijrcog20194207
12. Putri, Y. H. S., Maryati, I., & Solehati, T. (2025). Interventions to Improve Sexual and Reproductive Health Related Knowledge and Attitudes Among the Adolescents: Scoping Review. Risk management and healthcare policy, 18, 105–116. https://doi.org/10.2147/RMHP.S490395 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2147/RMHP.S490395
13. Paul AS, Varghese TC. A Brief Overview of the Sexual and Reproductive Health Awareness of Adolescents in Kerala. IJMRA 2023;06(07). doi:10.47191/ijmra/v6-i7-18 DOI: https://doi.org/10.47191/ijmra/v6-i7-18
14. Deshmukh DD, Chaniana SS. Knowledge About Sexual and Reproductive Health in Adolescent School-Going Children of 8th, 9th, and 10th Standards. Journal of Psychosexual Health. 2020;2(1):56-62. doi:10.1177/2631831819898916 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2631831819898916
15. Khanna D, Khargekar N, Budukh A. Knowledge, attitude, and practice about cervical cancer and its screening among community healthcare workers of Varanasi district, Uttar Pradesh, India. J Family Med Prim Care 2019;8(5):1715–9. doi:10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_143_19 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_143_19
16. Bhandari R, Gorkhali R, Humagain V, Onta M. Awareness Regarding Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Among School Students in a Province of Nepal 2025; doi:10.56974/pmjn.917 DOI: https://doi.org/10.56974/pmjn.917
17. Gautam L, Adhikari S, Bist A, Gautam S (2025) Sexual and reproductive health rights: A cross-sectional study of knowledge and practice among the married women of reproductive age residing in Besishahar Municipality, Nepal. PLOS Glob Public Health 5(10): e0004370. https://doi.org/10.1371/ journal.pgph.0004370 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0004370
18. Dorle, Ashok & Hiremath, L.D. & Mannapur, B.S. & Ghattargi, C.H.. (2010). Awareness regarding puberty changes in secondary school children of Bagalkot, Karnataka"- a cross sectional study. Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research. 4. 3016-3019.
19. Sandhya, P., & Bimala, P. (2017). Awareness and Attitude on Pubertal Changes among Community Adolescents.
20. Samkange-Zeeb F, Mikolajczyk RT, Zeeb H. Awareness and knowledge of sexually transmitted diseases among secondary school students in two German cities. J Community Health. 2013 Apr;38(2):293-300. doi: 10.1007/s10900-012-9614-4. PMID: 23001541. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-012-9614-4
21. Jain, M. A., Jain, S. M., Patil, S., & Bang, A. (2016). A study on knowledge, attitude and practice of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV in adolescent population in Wardha, Maharashtra, India. International Journal of Contemporary Pediatrics, 3(2), 367–372. https://doi.org/10.18203/2349-3291.ijcp20161016 DOI: https://doi.org/10.18203/2349-3291.ijcp20161016
22. Amu EO, Adegun PT. Awareness and Knowledge of Sexually Transmitted Infections among Secondary School Adolescents in Ado Ekiti, South Western Nigeria. J Sex Transm Dis. 2015;2015:260126. doi: 10.1155/2015/260126. Epub 2015 Aug 9. PMID: 26345225; PMCID: PMC4546807. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1155/2015/260126
23. A., V., & K., P. (2018). Assessment of present awareness on reproductive health and evaluation of a tool designed for reproductive health education among school going adolescent girls. International Journal of Reproduction, Contraception, Obstetrics and Gynecology, 7(6), 2381–2387. https://doi.org/10.18203/2320-1770.ijrcog20182354 DOI: https://doi.org/10.18203/2320-1770.ijrcog20182354
24. Kishor, D., Madaiah, M., Munipapanna, S., & Sonnappa, S. D. (2019). Effectiveness of adolescent health education among secondary and senior secondary school girls in rural Bangalore. International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health, 6(10), 4336–4343. https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20194491 DOI: https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20194491
25. Paudel, Dillee & Nepal, Laxmi. (2012). “Awareness on Reproductive and Sexual Health among Adolescents: A Cross sectional study from Higher Secondary Schools of Kathmandu, Nepal”. Health Science Journal. 5. 31-37
26. Gupta, N., Mathur, A. K., Singh, M. P., & Saxena, N. C. (2004). Reproductive health awareness of school-going, unmarried, rural adolescents. Indian journal of pediatrics, 71(9), 797–801. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02730716 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02730716
27. Char, A., Saavala, M., & Kulmala, T. (2011). Assessing young unmarried men's access to reproductive health information and services in rural India. BMC public health, 11, 476. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-11-476 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-11-476
28. Kotecha, P. V., Patel, S. V., Mazumdar, V. S., Baxi, R. K., Misra, S., Diwanji, M., Bakshi, H., Modi, E., Shah, S., & Shringarpure, K. (2012). Reproductive health awareness among urban school going adolescents in Vadodara city. Indian journal of psychiatry, 54(4), 344–348. https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5545.104821 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5545.104821
29. Guan, M. Sexual and reproductive health knowledge, sexual attitudes, and sexual behaviour of university students: Findings of a Beijing-Based Survey in 2010-2011. Arch Public Health 79, 215 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-021-00739-5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-021-00739-5
30. Yang, X. (2021). Comparison Between Chinese and Danish School-based Sex Education from Gender Aspects.
31.Kotecha, P. V., Patel, S., Baxi, R. K., Mazumdar, V. S., Misra, S., Modi, E., & Diwanji, M. (2009). Reproductive health awareness among rural school going adolescents of Vadodara district. Indian journal of sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS, 30(2), 94–99. https://doi.org/10.4103/0253-7184.62765 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/0253-7184.62765
32. Mukherjee, Tanima. (2020). Comparative Study on Reproductive Health Awareness between Bio-Science and Non Bio-Science Students of H.S Level of West Bengal Board. Asian Review of Social Sciences. 9. 32-35. 10.51983/arss-2020.9.2.1619 DOI: https://doi.org/10.51983/arss-2020.9.2.1619
Downloads
Published
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Rahul Suresh, Dr Asha K P, Dr Soumya Gopakumar, Dr Indu D, Saramma Abraham (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Articles in "Healthline Journal" are Open Access articles. The license permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium for non-commercial purposes only, provided the original work and source is properly cited, and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
How to Cite
