Consequences Of Early Marriage Research Articles

Determinants and consequences of early marriage in Java, Indonesia

This study analyzes the determinants and patterns of early marriage and explores its consequences on marital dissolution, work status and occupation, migration, and contraceptive use in Java, Indonesia. Data from the 1991 Demographic and Health Survey are obtained on 5816 ever married women, 15-49 years old, living on Java. Early marriage occurs among women before age 20. Subjects are grouped as residing in Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Jogyakarta, and Surabaya; residing in townships and other urban areas; and residing in rural areas. Findings indicate that 70% of ever married women in Java married early. Almost 80% of women who were reared in villages married early. 81.2% who still live in rural areas married early. 20% had no formal education. 74% of Muslim women married early. 79% without work before marriage married early. Dissolution was more common among women living in rural areas. 31% of women in rural areas, 20% living in big cities, and 23% living in towns were no longer in their first marriages. Women who married early were 3 times more likely to experience dissolution than women who married later. The percentage of women whose first marriages ended was highest among women who were married the longest. The effect of marriage age on current working status and the pattern of working status between early and late marriage were not significant. 80% had ever used contraception. Women who married late were more mobile and were more likely to have a higher occupational status. Logistic findings indicate that women's education, work status before marriage, husband's education, and current residence were significant predictors of early marriage. Education was the strongest predictor. The probability of dissolution was highest among uneducated, early married, Muslim women living in big cities. The lowest probability was among later married women, living in small cities, and with a tertiary level of education.

Early Marriage in a Hmong Cohort

Rumbaut and Ima's (1988) report on the social and cultural adaptation of Southeast Asian refugee youth in Sad Diego indicated that the Hmong have retained their traditional family patterns more than any other group studied. Important characteristics of these family patterns include early age of marriage for female children, high levels of fertility, and a narrow set of circumscribed roles for females vis-a-vis those of males. Other studies indicate that after more than a decade of residence in the United States, a majority of Hmong adults remain unemployed and a majority of households have incomes below the federal poverty line (Fass, 1991). The linkage between early marriage and fertility and subsequent opportunities for the successful social and economic integration of Hmong adolescents and young adults suggests that additional attention should be focused on the social processes that lead to early marriage, and on the consequences of early marriage for the educational careers of Hmong students. The study of ethnic subgroups such as the Hmong is important in several respects. Detailed studies of ethnic populations allow us to assess the generalizability of models developed from surveys of the general population; comparisons among ethnic groups may also indicate the degree to which theories that explain demographic patterns and minority status for one group are applicable to other ethnic subgroups (cf. Ogbu, 1991). In addition, the Hmong have been stereotyped elsewhere as encouraging their daughters to many at an early age. Although some instances of pubescent girls becoming wives have been mentioned in ethnographic literature on the Hmong in their Laotian homeland, we do not have reliable data to indicate the extent to which they may be repeating a traditional pattern by marrying while in high school. Anthropological accounts of early marriage lack even basic measures of central tendency and variance that would allow us to establish connections between antecedent conditions and contemporary patterns of marriage in the Hmong community. In this article we report on early marriage in a cohort of Hmong high school students in St. Paul, Minnesota. Using panel data from the Youth Development Study, we are able to track a cohort of male and female high school students from their freshman year through the second semester of their senior year. The high school years are an important period of transition for adolescents in industrialized countries. This period is even more crucial for Hmong adolescents, who must negotiate not only the usual transition from adolescence to adulthood, but also the competing and sometimes contradictory demands of Hmong culture and the dominant Anglo society. Most studies assume that early marriage has negative consequences for the subsequent educational achievement and economic success of both husband and wife. The underlying theoretical perspective of these studies implies a rather narrow and individualistic definition of educational achievement and economic success, which may be inappropriate for the Hmong. In this study we examine the attitudes of Hmong adolescents toward marriage and fertility, and explore factors associated with early marriage and childbearing. For the Hmong, high fertility may still be an effective strategy for spreading risks across several offspring: If one has many children, chances are that one of them will be economically successful and therefore will be able to contribute to the support of the parents. Because early marriage may well be typical in the Hmong community, we are confronted with a set of parallel but seemingly contradictory research questions: (a) What factors promote early marriage and early childbearing for Hmong adolescents, and (b) why do some Hmong adolescents--in particular, some adolescent Hmong females decide to delay marriage and childbearing until they have completed their high school educations? REVIEW OF LITERATURE There exists an abundant literature on family formation and factors affecting early marriage and childbearing in both the general population (Rindfuss, Morgan, & Swicegood 1988; Sweet Bumpass, 1987) and for ethnic/racial subgroups such as African Americans (Bennet, Bloom, & Craig, 1989) and Mexican Americans (Stephen, 1989; Stephen & Bean, 1992). …

Changes in the influence of early marriage on the educational attainment of men and women

Has the impact of early marriage on educational attainment lessened among younger men and women? Using national survey data and an index of early marriage, this study suggests that the effects of early marriage have, in fact, increased in their negative consequences for both genders, with females consistently more at risk of reduced education across all birth cohorts. Possible explanations for this difference include the disproportionate tendency of women to choose early marriage, despite the liberating philosophy of the women's movement. Further, the effect of early marriage on women's educational attainment is shown to have cumulatively increasing negative economic consequences because of the rising number of female‐headed households which result from divorce.

The consequences of early marriage on marital dissolution.

This study is concerned with the negative effects of early marriage on marital stability. "The focus on this paper is an analysis of a path model which includes the estimated effects of antecedents of early marriage, early marriage and education on the probability of divorce. Findings using the [U.S.] General Social Surveys support research that suggests that early marriage is the most important varialbe influencing divorce. Further, little influence of the early marriage measure through education was found."

Accounting for the Educational Shortfalls of Mothers

Women who become mothers at an early age complete fewer years of education than women who delay childbearing. Using data from the US National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 on 11336 females the study examines family formation during the first 4 years after high school. 3123 women had become mothers by October 1976. The mothers especially the earlier groups ranked lower than their classmates in ability class rank and socioeconomic status. Married nonparents were close to the single nonparents in ability and class rank but a much smaller proportion of married nonparents than single nonparents were enrolled in academic programs indicating that most did not plan to go to college. The studys 2 main findings are that: 1) the effects of late-teenage parenthood on young married womens current educational status and long term educational aspirations are less severe than one might infer from comparisons of observed (unadjusted) outcomes for parents and nonparents and 2) parenthood and marriage have separate identifiable effects. The marriage effects are strong for this population of women. Preexisting differences between parents and nonparents would have led to very different educational outcomes in these 2 groups even without parenthood. Many of the effects that might be attributed to early parenthood also show up as effects of early marriage alone. This is not to say that early parenthood has no effects; the mothers do lag behind other married women in both current and expected education. The results show considerable self-selection into early marriage and early parenthood. One problem with the study is that data are limited to women who managed to get to their senior year in high school.

On "The Effects of Early Marriage on the Educational Attainments of Young Men": Comment on Kerckhoff and Parrow, Journal of Marriage and the Family, February, 1979

On "The Effects of Early Marriage on the Educational Attainments of Young Men": Comment on Kerckhoff and Parrow, Journal of Marriage and the Family, February, 1979

The Effect of Early Marriage on the Educational Attainment of Young Men

The Effect of Early Marriage on the Educational Attainment of Young Men

Socio-cultural aspects of age at marriage in the Middle East

In the past 20 years at least 54 countries have passed legislation setting or raising the minimum age at marriage. How successful this legislation will be is questionable, especially when it runs counter to prevailing social and cultural institutions and beliefs, but it does reflect the growing international concern with delaying marriage. The deleterious consequences of early marriage are most evident in high birth rates and low status of women, both of which prevent poor countries from developing. Concern for postponing marriage has evolved from the larger objectives of stemming population growth and of guaranteeing women their basic rights. To raise the standard of health and education of the mother thus improves the welfare of the family.