Associations between village-level norms on marital age and marital choice outcomes among adolescent wives in rural Niger

Abstract

Social norms, the often unspoken rules that dictate behavior, are increasingly understood to play a role in child, early and forced marriage (CEFM) practices, but are less frequently examined in quantitative research on CEFM. No research on this topic has focused on Niger, despite the country having the highest prevalence of child marriage in the world. This study examines the associations of community and individual-level norms on marital age and marital choice with the outcomes of girls' age at marriage and choice in marriage. We used data from a family planning evaluation trial conducted in three districts within the Dosso region of Niger. Survey data were collected from adolescent wives and their husbands (N = 582) on demographics, normative beliefs regarding girls' age at marriage and marital choice, and among wives, age at marriage and engagement in marital choice. We developed our community-level norm variables by using the aggregate data from husbands' and wives' norms and wives' CEFM experiences. Using crude and adjusted regression models, we assessed the associations between our norms variables and our CEFM outcomes. In this context of very high prevalence of CEFM, we found that village-level norms related to marital choice, particularly the norms of men, are associated with younger age of girls at marriage. We also found that younger age of girls at marriage is positively associated with lower likelihood of their engagement in marital choice. Further, we find that village-level norms related to a later age of marriage and support for marital choice, as well as adolescent wives' perceptions of community norms related to a higher age of marriage, are associated with higher odds of a wife having had marital choice. These findings suggest the value of community level social norms change on CEFM in Niger, and the importance of focusing on child marriage and girls’ marital choice simultaneously given their interconnection.

Effects of the reaching married adolescents program on modern contraceptive use and intimate partner violence: results of a cluster randomized controlled trial among married adolescent girls and their husbands in Dosso, Niger

“…Based on the importance of women’s age and parity in reproductive autonomy and IPV [ 5 , 7 , 14 ], as well as prior associations in this population [ 17 ], we also conducted baseline age- and baseline parity-stratified post-hoc analyses for primary and secondary outcome; these models were minimally adjusted as a result of small cell sizes. We conducted an additional post-hoc sensitivity analysis utilizing inverse probability of censoring (IPC) weighting to account for the influence of greater loss to follow-up in some groups.…”

“…Early marriage has been linked to multiple adverse health outcomes (e.g., maternal and infant mortality), many of which stem from early childbearing [ 3 , 4 ]. Social norms support early childbearing in Niger [ 5 ], with a median age at first birth of 18.2 for rural-residing women [ 1 ]. This early childbearing is experienced in tandem with low contraceptive prevalence, with fewer than 6% of married 15–19 year old girls using modern contraception, contributing to the highest levels of fertility in the world for adolescent Nigerien girls [ 1 , 5 , 6 ].…”

Social norms, agency, and marriage aspirations in Malawi

“…Specifically, evidence from a panel study in Nepal showed that collective beliefs about ideal marriage age and positive attitudes toward remaining single among neighbors are negatively associated with the likelihood of first marriage over a period of 4 years (Yabiku, 2006). Similarly, a recent study on rural Niger found that village level norms related to marriage age and support for marital choice influence the likelihood of adolescent girls marrying early (Shakya et al, 2020). In southern Malawi, Steinhaus et al (2019) examined marriage norms using social norm theory (Bicchieri, 2016), more explicitly attempting to evaluate whether child marriage can be defined as a social norm.…”

“When you live in good health with your husband, then your children are in good health ….” A qualitative exploration of how households make healthcare decisions in Maradi and Zinder Regions, Niger

“…In Niger specifically, studies have examined the influence of gender norms and gender inequality on early child and forced marriage [21] and FP use [22,23]. In the Maradi region of Niger, women were more likely to use modern contraception if they had discussed contraceptive use with their husband [23].…”