Abstract
Age at marriage is of particular interest because it marks the transition to adulthood in many societies; the point at which certain options in education, employment, and participation in society are foreclosed. This study aimed to investigate demographic and socioeconomic factors affecting age at first marriage in Ethiopian women. The data source used for the analysis was the 2011 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey, which is country representative survey. The study considered 10,417 women aged 15-49 years from nine regions and one city administration. Accelerated failure time model was used for identifying factors associated with age at first marriage. The median time for age at first marriage was 17 years (95% CI: 16.90, 17.10). Based on Akaike’s information criterion (AIC) the Log-logistic accelerated failure time model was found to be the best model in describing the age at first marriage among other candidate models. The result based on this model showed that region, women’s educational level, wealth index and religion significantly affect timing of first marriage. Women who had secondary and higher education prolonged time-to-first marriage by the factor of ɸ =1.42 and ɸ =1.46, respectively. Women from Oromia, Somali, SNNP and Dire Dawa have prolonged time to age at first marriage by ɸ=1.02, ɸ=1.05, ɸ=1.08, and ɸ=1.09 respectively. However, women from Amhara region (ɸ =0.89), Benishangul-Gumuz region (ɸ =0.95) and Gambela region (ɸ =0.95) had a significantly higher risk of early first marriage compared to their counterparts in the Tigray region. The acceleration factors for middle wealth index and rich are 0.99 and 0.98 respectively using poor household reference. This implied that poor household women have longer time-to-age at first marriage. Improving girls and young women access to education is important for rising the women’s age at first marriage, which is vital for empowering them and enhancing their participation in any sector.
Highlights
Age at marriage is of particular interest because it marks the transition to adulthood in many societies; the point at which certain options in education, employment, and participation in society are foreclosed; and the beginning of regular socially acceptable time for sexual activity and childbearing [24]
Very early marriage is said to undermine other rights guaranteed by the convention, including the right to be protected from physical abuse and sexual exploitation and the right not to be separated from parents against one’s will [26]
The findings of this study revealed that wealth index and Amhara, Benishangul-Gumuz and Gambela region have a significantly shorter time-to-age at first marriage while women’s educational level, religion, and from region category (Oromia, SNNP and Dire Dawa) prolonged time-toage at first marriage among women in Rural Ethiopia
Summary
Age at marriage is of particular interest because it marks the transition to adulthood in many societies; the point at which certain options in education, employment, and participation in society are foreclosed; and the beginning of regular socially acceptable time for sexual activity and childbearing [24]. Very early marriage is said to undermine other rights guaranteed by the convention, including the right to be protected from physical abuse and sexual exploitation and the right not to be separated from parents against one’s will [26]. As in most developing countries, early marriage is prevalent in Ethiopia. The median age at first marriage in Yihenew Mitiku et al.: Determinants of Time to First Marriage Among Rural Women in Ethiopia the same year was 16 years [4]. In 2005, the median age at first marriage was 16.1years [5]
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