Table 1.

Demographic characteristics of the participants

Demographic characteristic	Number (range)
Average age (years)	35 (20–52)
Average number of children	2 (1–4)
Average age at marriage (years)	16 (16–21)
Social marginalization status	Number (percent)
General caste (non-marginalized)	55 (70 %)
Scheduled caste (SC) (marginalized)	18 (23 %)
Scheduled tribe (SC) (marginalized)	4 (5 %)
Muslim (marginalized)	2 (2 %)
Major livelihood of the mothers
Agriculture	45 (57 %)
Fishing	4 (5 %)
Crab collection	5 (6 %)
Daily labour	5 (7 %)
Service	8 (10 %)
Housewife	12 (15 %)
Educational level of mother
Primary	15 (19 %)
Secondary and above	51 (65 %)
Illiterate	13 (16 %)