Knowledge of Mothers About Puberty Health in Girls: A Survey in the Center of Iran

Introduction: Maintaining and promoting health during puberty is among the most important educational matters and demands sufficient awareness. This is while, the knowledge of parents in this regard and its problems is not enough. Therefore, the present study investigated the knowledge of mothers regarding their daughters’ puberty health. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the mothers of 200 girls’ aged 10-15 years and living in the center of Iran were chosen using the random sampling method and surveyed using a researcher-made questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire was calculated using Cronbach alpha (0.844). Results: The mean score of mother’s knowledge regarding social puberty was 83.61 ± 15.38, regarding psychological puberty was 79.94 ± 20.20, regarding physical puberty was 72.22 ± 18.00, and regarding nutrition during puberty was 76.55 ± 17.60. There was a direct correlation between mother’s education and mother’s knowledge scores (P < 0.001, r = 0.285), but no significant correlation was seen between mother’s knowledge and mother’s age or father’s job. Conclusion: The results indicated that mothers are well-informed of their daughters’ experience with puberty. Since mothers are considered the educational source for their daughters in most cases, their level of knowledge is important.