Early marriage, early pregnancy and adolescent schooling

Abstract

School dropout among young girls remains a major concern in Mali. According to the Modular and Permanent Household Survey, 9.7% of girls drop out of school for reasons attributable to early marriage and pregnancy. In light of this finding, this study aimed to analyze the effects of early marriage and pregnancy on the schooling of adolescents by identifying the obstacles to school completion for adolescents and analyzing their links with marriage/pregnancy. This research adopted a descriptive and analytical approach. The analytical component involved a logistic regression using secondary data from the surveys. The results show that child marriage through early cohabitation of the girl with her husband and household size have negative effects on the probability of completion to secondary school. In contrast, the female gender of the household head, the household’s standard of living, and the husband’s level of education have significant positive effects on the likelihood of completion through high school by the girl.