Table 2.

Demographic characteristics and BMI of the study participants: adolescents (n 1262) aged 12–18 years living in rural Sri Lanka, ‘Integrating Nutrition Promotion and Rural Development’ project, August/September 2015

	Ampara		Moneregala		Kurunegala		Grand total
	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
Sex
Female	286	53·46	243	36·43	117	41·20	646	43·47
Male	202	37·76	243	36·43	142	50·00	587	39·50
Age (years)
12	13	2·43	3	0·45	2	0·70	18	1·21
13	30	5·61	18	2·70	10	3·52	58	3·90
14	35	6·54	39	5·85	22	7·75	96	6·46
15	228	42·62	173	25·94	89	31·34	490	32·97
16	172	32·15	245	36·73	136	47·89	553	37·21
17	15	2·80	14	2·10	7	2·46	36	2·42
18	–	–	2	0·30	–	–	2	0·13
Maternal education
Passed GCE/O levels or above	164	33·00	203	40·93	160	59·48	527	41·76
Below GCE/O level	333	67·00	293	59·07	109	40·52	735	58·24
Ethnicity
Sinhala	336	67·61	491	98·99	259	96·28	1086	86·05
Sri Lankan Moor	102	20·52	2	0·40	7	2·60	111	8·80
Indian Tamil	2	0·40	1	0·20	–	–	3	0·24
Sri Lankan Tamil	56	11·27	2	0·40	3	1·12	61	4·83
Don’t know/missing	1	0·20	–	–	–	–	1	0·08
Age- and sex-adjusted BMI category
Underweight grade 3	46	8·60	31	4·65	23	8·10	100	6·73
Underweight grade 2	55	10·28	61	9·15	37	13·03	153	10·30
Underweight grade 1	96	17·94	118	17·69	57	20·07	271	18·24
Normal	264	49·35	244	36·58	125	44·01	633	42·60
Overweight	21	3·93	26	3·90	18	6·34	65	4·37
Obese	4	0·75	6	0·90	3	1·06	13	0·87

GCE/O level, General Certificate of Education/Ordinary level.

The percentages for each section may not add up to 100 % due to observations with missing answers, which are not shown.