Abstract
BackgroundTime to age at first marriage of women is the duration of time until the age at which they started living with their first partner. Time to age at first marriage is widely considered a proxy indicator for the age at which women begin to be exposed to the risks inherent in sexual activity. The purpose is to model the determinant of time to age at first marriage among women in Ethiopia using Cox models with mixed effects.MethodsThe 2016 Ethiopian Demography and Health survey sample was selected using a two-stage cluster design. The data set in this study were obtained from the Demography and Health survey conducted in Ethiopia in 2016. In this study, we used Cox models with mixed effects.ResultsOf all 15,683 women aged 15–49 years, 11,405 (72.72%) were married with the median and mean age at first marriage 17 years and 18 years, respectively. Cox frailty survival model showed that residence, educational level, occupation, work status of women& head education level of households were the most significant factors whereas religion, access to media and wealth index of a household of women were not significant factors at 5% level of significance. The significant clustering effect showed that heterogeneity among the regions on age at first marriage was present.ConclusionsThe present study determined the duration of time until the age at first marriage and indicated relevant solutions for marriage-related problems of women aged 15–49 years in Ethiopia. Women residing in rural area of Ethiopia and had lower education level were married earlier. Therefore, programs to reduce the high rate of early marriage in Ethiopia should give attention to women education and women residing in rural area.
Highlights
Time to age at first marriage of women is the duration of time until the age at which they started living with their first partner [1, 2]
Descriptive statistics Of all 15,683 women aged 15–49, 11,405(72.72%) were married and the median & mean age at first marriage for women living in Ethiopia were years and years respectively, while the minimum and maximum age at first marriage observed were 10 years and 50 years respectively
The Cox frailty survival model was selected as a better fit for the dataset compared to the Cox frailty survival model
Summary
Time to age at first marriage of women is the duration of time until the age at which they started living with their first partner [1, 2]. The median age at first sexual intercourse for women aged 25–49 years is 16.6 years, which is very close to the median age at first marriage of 16.5 years This suggests that Ethiopian women generally begin sexual intercourse at the time of their first marriage [2, 5]. Age at first marriage has a major effect on childbearing because women who marry early have on average a longer period of exposure to the risk of pregnancy and give birth to a greater number of children over their lifetimes [2]. The purpose is to model the determinant of time to age at first marriage among women in Ethiopia using Cox models with mixed effects. Conclusions: The present study determined the duration of time until the age at first marriage and indicated relevant solutions for marriage-related problems of women aged 15–49 years in Ethiopia.
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