Full Citation

Title: Biosocial life-course factors associated with women's early marriage in rural India: The prospective longitudinal Pune Maternal Nutrition Study

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2021

ISBN:

ISSN: 2692-7691

DOI: 10.1002/AJPA.24408

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: Objectives: By convention, women's early marriage is considered a sociocultural decision sensitive to factors acting during adolescence such as poverty, early menar-che, and less education. Few studies have examined broader risk factors in the natal household prior to marriage. We investigated whether biosocial markers of parental investment through the daughters' life-course were associated with early marriage risk in rural India. We used an evolutionary perspective to interpret our findings. Materials and Methods: A prospective cohort recruited mothers at preconception. Children were followed from birth to age 21 years. Multivariable logistic regression models estimated odds ratios of marrying early (<19 years) associated first with wealth, age at menarche and education, and then with broader markers of maternal phenotype, natal household characteristics, and girls' growth trajectories. Models adjusted for confounders. Results: Of 305 girls, 71 (23%) had married early. Early married girls showed different patterns of growth compared to unmarried girls. Neither poverty nor early menarche predicted early marriage. Girls' non-completion of lower secondary school predicted early marriage, explaining 19% of the variance. Independent of girls' lower schooling, nuclear household, low paternal education, shorter gestation, and girls' poor infant weight gain were associated with marrying early, explaining in combination 35% of the variance. Discussion: Early marriage reflects "future discounting," where reduced parental investment in daughters' somatic and educational capital from early in her life favors an earlier transition to the life-course stage when reproduction can occur. Interventions initiated in adolescence may occur too late in the life-course to effectively delay women's marriage.

Url: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ajpa.24408

Url: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ajpa.24408

Url: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajpa.24408

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Authors: Marphatia, Akanksha A.; Wells, Jonathan C. K.; Reid, Alice M.; Yajnik, Chittaranjan S.

Periodical (Full): American Journal of Biological Anthropology

Issue:

Volume:

Pages: 1-15

Data Collections: IPUMS Global Health - DHS

Topics: Education, Family and Marriage, Gender, Land Use/Urban Organization

Countries: