Predictors of age at first marriage among rural women in the West Guji Zone, Southern Ethiopia, 2024: a community-based cross-sectional study

Predictors of age at first marriage among rural women in the West Guji Zone

Abstract

Background of the study: Age at first marriage is crucial for a woman’s life prospects. Rural women are more likely to marry at an early age. Therefore, this study focused on identifying the factors that influence the age of the first marriage.

Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in the West Guji Zone, southern Ethiopia from April 1 to May 5, 2024. A multistage sampling procedure was used to select 711 participants. The data were entered into Epi-Data version 4.4.3.1 and exported to SPSS version 25 for analysis. A multivariable linear regression model was fitted to determine the predictors of age at first marriage and statistical significance was determined using p < 0.05.

Results: On average, the participants’ married age was 17.5 ± (2.456 SD) years. The minimum and maximum ages of the first marriage were 13 and 25 years, respectively. The study results revealed that seven factors were associated with the age at first marriage: family wealth, mother’s education, and participants’ awareness of legal age, lack of punishment against perpetrators, lack of job opportunities, marital decision, and the size of the parent's family.

Conclusion: Factors predicting lower age of first marriage include poor family wealth status, low maternal education, perceived age at marriage, absence of legal action against early marriage offenders; lack of work opportunities for women, marriage decisions by others, and larger parent family sizes. Therefore, intervention efforts that focus on these factors can increase the age of first marriage beyond 18 years and improve women's prospects.