Early Marriage in Bangladesh: A Cross-Sectional Study Exploring the Associated Factors

Abstract

This cross-sectional study intends to explore the factors associated with the prevalence of early marriage among female teenagers in Bangladesh. Data from the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS, 2014) were used to meet the study objective. Two binary logistic models were run to estimate the factors that influence early marriage. In Model-I, the covariates were considered in a bivariate setup, and unadjusted odds ratios (UOR) were obtained from ModelII, where all the covariates were taken into account to get the adjusted odds ratio. Results show that the level of education for both females and their partners, religiosity, possession of wealth and geographical location are some important factors with significant effects on the prevalence of early marriage in Bangladesh. Based on the findings, this study recommends gearing up provisions of education for all, awareness-building through social mobilization, reform initiatives concerning Islamic beliefs and strengthening poverty-reduction strategies to speed up the process of eliminating early marriage.