From little girls to adult women: Changes in age at marriage in Scheduled Castes from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, India

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F67985807%3A_____%2F23%3A00568776" target="_blank" >RIV/67985807:_____/23:00568776 - isvavai.cz</a>

Alternative codes found

RIV/75010330:_____/23:00014215

Result on the web

<a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0281506" target="_blank" >https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0281506</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0281506" target="_blank" >10.1371/journal.pone.0281506</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

From little girls to adult women: Changes in age at marriage in Scheduled Castes from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, India

Original language description

BACKGROUND: Research confirms the negative relationship between early marriage and mothers’ and children’s health outcomes. This is why studies of the changes in age at marriage are an important task from the point of view of the health status and well-being of a mother and her offspring, especially in groups represented by extremely disadvantaged social strata in India. The results of such studies may influence the future family planning policy in the country. OBJECTIVES: This study aims to investigate the trend of age at marriage among the Scheduled Castes (SCs) women from two Indian states: Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh relative to the level of education and also to socioeconomic changes in the states. These states manifest the highest proportion of girls getting married below the age of 18 years–far above the proportion observed in entire India. METHODS: Women from Scheduled Caste, N = 1,612, aged 25–65, born in 1950–1990 were investigated. A modern semiparametric regression approach was used. To capture the relationship between age at marriage and year of birth, categories of women’s level of education (illiterate, primary: 1st–5th standards, middle school: 6th–8th standards, high school: 9th–10th standards, higher secondary: 11th–12th standards), and categories of the profession (women working in the agricultural sector or the non-agricultural sector), flexible framework of the Generalized Additive Model (GAM) was applied. RESULTS: A significant impact of the cohort defined by the year of birth (<0.001), and women’s education (<0.001) on age at marriage was noted, while the influence of women’s occupation was not significant (p = 0.642). Mean age at marriage differed significantly with different education level. Women who graduated from primary school married 0.631 years later on average than illiterate ones, while those who graduated from middle schools, high schools (9th–10th standards) and higher secondary schools married significantly later than illiterate ones by 1.454 years and 2.463 years, respectively. Age at marriage increased over time: from slightly above 15 years in the cohort of illiterate women born in 1950 to almost 19 years in quite well-educated women born in 1990. The average age at marriage estimated for four education levels in 1990 ranged between 16.39 years (95%CI: 15.29–17.50) in the group of illiterate women and 18.86 years (95%CI: 17.76–19.95) in women graduated from high and higher secondary schools. CONCLUSION: The rise of age at marriage can be partly explained by the increase of females enrolled in schools, the alleviation of poverty, and the implementation of social programs for women.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10103 - Statistics and probability

Project

—

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2023

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

PLoS ONE

ISSN

1932-6203

e-ISSN

1932-6203

Volume of the periodical

18

Issue of the periodical within the volume

2

Country of publishing house

US - UNITED STATES

Number of pages

15

Pages from-to

e0281506

UT code for WoS article

000966726000001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85147975884