Exploring Prevalence and Determinants of Early Marriage Through a Cross-Sectional Study: Insights From Bangladesh...

Getting married young is a common system in developing nations, and it has detrimental effects on the health of the women involved as well as the unborn children. This study aims to identify the key factors affecting early marriage among Bangladeshi women using BDHS-2022 data, focusing on region, education, residence type, employment status, and religion by considering the best-fit model among Cox proportional hazard (Cox-PH) and various accelerated failure time (AFT) survival models.

This study used survival analysis techniques, such as Cox proportional hazard model and accelerated failure time (AFT) models, using data from the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2022 (BDHS-2022). The Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) and Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) were used to choose the models, and based on these criteria, the log logistic AFT model was identified as the best-fitting model.

The women who had an early marriage have a much higher frequency (65.9%) than those who did not have early marriage (34.1%). The log logistic AFT model identified several significant factors influencing early marriage. The hazard ratio of getting early marriage of respondents with primary (HR: 1.017, p < 0.05) and secondary education (HR: 1.024, p < 0.01) had a higher risk compared to those with no education, while the same results are shown in the respondent's husband's education. Respondent's currently working had a lower risk of getting married young (HR: 0.988, p < 0.01). Additionally, rural residence was associated with a higher risk (HR: 1.019, p < 0.001) than urban residence. These results emphasize that the educational level of both male and female, living area, and employment status are influencing factors that affect early marriage.

Early marriage in Bangladesh is influenced by socioeconomic and demographic factors, emphasizing the need for targeted interventions focusing on education, employment, and regional disparities to delay marriage and improve women's social outcomes.