Schooling, Stigma and Periods Among Adolescent Girls and Boys in Tanzania

Last registered on January 27, 2022

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Schooling, Stigma and Periods Among Adolescent Girls and Boys in Tanzania
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0004052
Initial registration date
May 23, 2019

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
June 10, 2019, 9:39 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
January 27, 2022, 2:37 PM EST

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Barnard College, Columbia University

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2019-05-20
End date
2020-07-31
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Girls in developing countries face lack of information, stigma and fear surrounding a natural part of a woman’s life: menstruation. We explore how stigmas can be sustained, when plausibly universal. We test this in a field experiment with secondary school girls in Tanzania, using revealed preference and information treatment. In addition, we survey boys to understand information constraints and peer pressure.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Benshaul-Tolonen, Anja. 2022. "Schooling, Stigma and Periods Among Adolescent Girls and Boys in Tanzania." AEA RCT Registry. January 27. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.4052-1.2000000000000002
Former Citation
Benshaul-Tolonen, Anja. 2022. "Schooling, Stigma and Periods Among Adolescent Girls and Boys in Tanzania." AEA RCT Registry. January 27. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/4052/history/135388
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The project has three main purposes: 1. Understand adolescent boys' attitudes and knowledge surrounding menstruation, and gender differences in knowledge. 2. The role of social coordination and peer pressure around a stigmatized subject, 3. Understand menstruation-related teasing behavior among adolescents, including using network analysis. These three aspects of the study are intended to be published separately.
Intervention Start Date
2019-05-20
Intervention End Date
2019-05-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
There are three main outcomes:
- Boys' attitudes and knowledge surrounding menstruation, and gender differences in attitudes and knowledge
- The prevalence of menstruation-related teasing (from both perpetrator and victims point of view), stated reasons for teasing, and potential underreporting of teasing.
- Uptake of the AFRIpads in the social coordination experiment with four treatment groups
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
- For the boys and gender differences in knowledge: Primary outcomes will include all the questions listed in the questionnaire that capture beliefs and knowledge, analyzed individually and as indexes
- Share of girls who report having been teased. Share of boys who report teasing. Imputed share of boys who report been seen teasing according to the network analysis
- For the social coordination experiment: Uptake of the sanitary pad

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Background variables such as value questions regarding if it's acceptable to tease a girl because she has her period, expectations of the future, psychosocial wellbeing, experience with menstruation, communication regarding menstruation
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The project uses social coordination experiments, list experiments and traditional surveying.
Experimental Design Details
We make the following predictions:

1. There is a positive correlation between age and choosing a sanitary pad
2. Female students who receive the updated belief of share of classmates who received their periods, and update upwards, will be more likely to choose the sanitary pad, compared with students with similar initial beliefs.
3. Female students who receive the updated belief of share of classmates who received their periods, and update their belief downwards, will be less likely to choose the sanitary pad, compared to students with similar initial beliefs.
4. Female students who have ever received their menstruation are more likely to choose the sanitary pad, than female students who have never received their menstruation.
5. Female students who have received their menstruation have a higher willingness to pay for the sanitary pad, than girls who have never received their period.
6. Female students who have received their menstruation assign a value to the reusable sanitary pad that exceeds the monetary option.
7. Female students who receive the exclusively private statement are more likely to choose the sanitary pad, that female students who receive the non-exclusively private statement.
8. Female students who updated their belief upwards, and who received the exclusively private statement, are the most likely to choose the sanitary pad than before.
9. Girls who have experienced (or witness) teasing are less likely to choose the sanitary pad, than girls who have not, especially when the choice is public.

Hypotheses regarding teasing:
1. Beliefs about the acceptability of teasing girls are related to the number of friends that they have seen teasing
2. Beliefs about the acceptability of teasing girls are related with the attitudes of the central nodes of the network, i.e., the popular boys

Hypotheses regarding gender differences:
1. Boys are less knowledgeable than girls regarding menstruation
Randomization Method
Separate randomizations for boys and girls, list experiments and social coordination experiments. All the randomizations were done in Stata in advance of the field work. The surveys were ordered according to the randomization lists generated. The surveys were handed out in the classroom according to the list based on seating.
Randomization Unit
Individual level
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
1,000 individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
1,000 students
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Treatment arms social coordination (girls only): 125 per 4 treatment arms
Treatment arm list experiments (girls only): 167 per 3 treatment arms
Treatment arm list experiments (boys only): 167 per 3 treatment arms
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Barnard College, Columbia University
IRB Approval Date
2018-11-16
IRB Approval Number
1819-1110-010

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
November 30, 2019, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
June 15, 2019, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
No
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials