Page 54 - IJPS-11-3

International Journal of
Population Studies Early marriage and birth in Bengali women

Table 3. AORs of early marriage and early childbearing, 2019 – 2021
Background characteristics Married before 18 years Married before 18 years and
childbearing before 19 years
OR AOR OR AOR
Native language
Non-Bengali ® 1 (1.00 – 1.00) 1 (1.00 – 1.00) 1 (1.00 – 1.00) 1 (1.00 – 1.00)
Bengali 1.76*** (1.70 – 1.83) 1.72*** (1.66 – 1.79) 1.60*** (1.55 – 1.67) 1.55*** (1.49 – 1.62)
Years of schooling
No education ® 1 (1.00 – 1.00) 1 (1.00 – 1.00)
<10 years 0.90*** (0.86 – 0.94) 0.92*** (0.88 – 0.96)
10 or more years 0.25*** (0.24 – 0.27) 0.23*** (0.22 – 0.25)
Sex of the household head
Male ® 1 (1.00 – 1.00) 1 (1.00 – 1.00)
Female 0.96 (0.91 – 1.01) 0.94* (0.89 – 1.00)
Mass media exposure
No ® 1 (1.00 – 1.00) 1 (1.00 – 1.00)
Yes 1.08*** (1.04 – 1.13) 1.11*** (1.06 – 1.16)
Social group
Non-SC/ST/OBC ® 1 (1.00 – 1.00) 1 (1.00 – 1.00)
Scheduled caste (SC) 1.15*** (1.09 – 1.22) 1.14*** (1.07 – 1.21)
Scheduled tribe (ST) 0.90** (0.84 – 0.97) 0.94 (0.88 – 1.02)
Other backward classes (OBC) 0.87*** (0.82 – 0.92) 0.91** (0.85 – 0.96)
Don’t know 1.35** (1.12 – 1.63) 1.40*** (1.18 – 1.68)
Religion
Hindu® 1 (1.00 – 1.00) 1 (1.00 – 1.00)
Muslim 1.40*** (1.33 – 1.48) 1.37*** (1.30 – 1.45)
Others 0.80*** (0.71 – 0.90) 0.93 (0.82 – 1.05)
Economic status of the household
Poorest ® 1 (1.00 – 1.00) 1 (1.00 – 1.00)
Poorer 1.03 (0.98 – 1.08) 1.06* (1.01 – 1.11)
Middle 0.97 (0.92 – 1.03) 1.03 (0.97 – 1.10)
Richer 0.79*** (0.73 – 0.85) 0.88** (0.81 – 0.96)
Richest 0.54*** (0.48 – 0.62) 0.61*** (0.53 – 0.71)
Type of place of residence
Urban ® 1 (1.00 – 1.00) 1 (1.00 – 1.00)
Rural 1.16*** (1.10 – 1.23) 1.10** (1.04 – 1.16)
Notes: ®: Reference category; *p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001.
Abbreviations: AORs: Adjusted odds ratios; OR: Odds ratio; CI: Confidence interval.

opportunities and increase girls’ vulnerability, compelling violence (Singh et al., 2018; Yount et al., 2016). Adolescent
them and their families to adhere to social norms based on childbearing is further a human rights violation due to its
early marriage and childbearing (Roest, 2016). adverse implications for the health and welfare of girls,
Marriage before the age of 18 violates adolescents’ including increased risks of pregnancy complications
legal rights (Jain & Kurz, 2007) and increases their risk of (de la Calle et al., 2021), sexually transmitted infections
unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (Cortés Alfaro, 2019), miscarriage and stillbirth (Kamal &
(Clark et al., 2006; Santhya et al., 2008). In addition, women Hassan, 2015; Paul, 2018), and restricted fetal growth and
who marry early are more vulnerable to intimate partner low birth weight (Oyeyemi et al., 2019; Raj et al., 2014), all

Volume 11 Issue 3 (2025) 48 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.2068