Determinants of Early Marriage among Female Children in Amhara Region, Ethiopia

Female early marriage is any marriage carried out below the age of 18 years in Ethiopia. This means before the girl is physically, physiologically, and psychologically ready to carry the responsibilities of marriage and childbearing. Therefore, it has major consequences for public health, national security, social development, human rights, economic development, and gender equality. The study is made based on 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) which was conducted by the Central Statistical Agency (CSA) of Ethiopia. The sampling technique employed was multistage stratified cluster sampling. From all regions of the country, a total of 15,683 women were considered for the survey. Out of these, a total of 1120 samples were extracted for this analysis for the Amhara region. The prevalence of early marriage practice was 48.57% in the study area. The odds of early marriage practice were 2.044(AOR=2.044, 95%CI: 1.875, 2.453) times higher among rural residents compared to urban. The odds of early marriage practice was 1.687(AOR=1.687, 95%CI: 1.171, 2.431) times higher among women who had primary education compared to uneducated women. Regarding legal marital age, those who did not know the legal marital age were 1.614(AOR=1.614, 95%CI: 1.259, 2.068) times more likely to practice early marriage compared to parents who know the legal marital age. By using Binary logistic regression, predictor variables like education level, family monthly income, Residence, and knowledge of legal marital were significant determinants of early marriage practice.