Page 170 - GHES-3-3

Global Health Economics and
Sustainability

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Socioeconomic and reproductive factors

associated with child marriage in Africa: A path
model

Laurasona Leigh 1 , Jiunn-Jye Sheu * , and Colleen Taylor 2
1
1 Department of Population Health, College of Health and Human Services, University of Toledo,
Toledo, Ohio, United States of America
2 College of Nursing, University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio, United States of America

Abstract

Child marriage is a significant public health issue, resulting in adverse effects that
violate the rights of girls below 18 years old. Six out of ten countries with the highest
prevalence of child marriage (over 50%) are located in Africa. Although numerous
studies have been carried out to explore ways to reduce child marriage, there is
limited research focusing on how ecological factors influence the prevalence of
child marriage. This study’s objective was to determine the socioeconomic and
reproductive factors linked to child marriage in Africa. Utilizing the Socio-ecological
Model of Health as a guide, a correlational analysis was conducted using data from 54
Academic editor: African countries. Information for each country was obtained from surveys conducted
Mihajlo Jakovljevic M.D. Ph.D. MAE with the support of reputable international agencies. Path analysis was utilized to
*Corresponding author: determine the magnitude and direction of the factors connected to child marriage.
Jiunn-Jye Sheu The results illustrate that adolescent fertility, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita,
(jiunnjye.sheu@utoledo.edu) and youth female literacy rates significantly accounted for 83% (R ) of variance for
2
Citation: Leigh, L., Sheu, J. child marriage. In addition, child marriage and GDP per capita significantly predict
&Taylor, C. (2025). Socioeconomic maternal mortality ratio with 0.59 R . African nations are encouraged to implement
2
and reproductive factors associated
with child marriage in Africa: A path strategies and interventions that reduce child marriage and its associated critical
model. Global Health Econ Sustain, factors by increasing enrollment, retention, and completion of school; improving
3(3):162-171. economic opportunities; and establishing relevant laws and policies.
https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.7117
Received: December 9, 2024
Keywords: Child marriage; Early marriage; Ecological model; Africa
Revised: March 4, 2025
Accepted: March 17, 2025
Published online: April 4, 2025 1. Introduction
Copyright: © 2025 Author(s).
This is an Open-Access article Child marriage refers to any official or unofficial marriage between a person under
distributed under the terms of the 18 years old and an adult or another minor (UNICEF, 2023). Child marriage is a serious
Creative Commons Attribution violation of human rights since it endangers the physical and mental well-being of girls
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, and women by denying them various opportunities, such as safety and education (Budu
provided the original work is et al., 2021; Greene et al., 2023; UNICEF, 2024; Pourtaheri et al., 2023). Globally, almost
properly cited. 15 million girls under 18 are married every year, with Africa being home to six out
Publisher’s Note: AccScience of ten countries, where more than 50% of the girls are child brides, meaning they are
Publishing remains neutral with younger than 18 years of age when they get married (Pourtaheri et al., 2023; Greene
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional et al., 2023). According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), four out of
affiliations. ten girls and young women–nearly 60 million (41%) from West and Central Africa aged

Volume 3 Issue 3 (2025) 162 https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.7117