Household Determinants of Teen Marriage: Sister Effects Across Four Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries

Abstract

This article investigates the household determinants of teen marriage in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam using data from the international Young Lives study tracking a cohort of children from the ages of 8-19 over a 15-year period. First, we offer a descriptive and comparative overview of the prevalence of teen marriage among girls in geographically selected areas of the four countries, together with their sociodemographic determinants. Second, we place a specific focus on the role of gender and sibling sex-composition in shaping the probability of getting married by age 19. Drawing on the significant crosscountry heterogeneity in household context, direction of marriage payments, and prevalence of arranged marriage, we test hypotheses relating to the availability of economic resources within the household and cultural norms surrounding the order and timing of marriage. We show that in Ethiopia, India, and Vietnam, presence and number of older sisters in the household are associated with a 30-50 percent lower likelihood of teen marriage, while the association is null in Peru. Also, we show that having a girl as next-youngest sibling does not significantly affect girls' likelihood of experiencing teen marriage, except in Ethiopia. Our results combined support theories of family-level resource constraints over sibling rivalry hypotheses. Our findings enrich and complement existing evidence on the role of sibling sex-composition on adolescent outcomes in low-and middle-income countries.

Trends in child marriage and new evidence on the selective impact of changes in age-at-marriage laws on early marriage

“…International governmental, academic, and advocacy stakeholders have called for countries to establish legislative frameworks that prohibit early marriage and close legal loopholes that permit marriage below the age of 18 ( Human Rights Watch 2011 , 2013 ; Jensen & Thornton, 2003 ; Walker, 2012 ). The disproportionately high rate of early marriage among girls compared to boys is also widely documented and recognized by the international scholarship and community as reflecting persistent gender inequalities ( Koski & Clark, 2021 ; Pesando & Abufhele, 2019 ; UNICEF, 2014 ) and slow economic development ( Vogelstein, 2013 ).…”

Child marriage among Somali refugees in Ethiopia: a cross sectional survey of adolescent girls and adult women

“…First, it is possible that parents seek to arrange marriages of their daughters in exact birth order, opting to marry older girls first, and thus girls with older sisters may be less vulnerable to child marriage. Indeed, Pesando and Abufhele found evidence of such an effect in India, Peru and Vietnam – although the relationship seemed to flip in Ethiopia [ 34 ]. Another possible explanation for this finding pertains to the protective effect of having sisters in the household.…”

“…Sociodemographic variables included reported current age – modelled as a continuous variable, education status (ever attended school vs never attended school), ethnicity (Darod, Digil and Mirifle, Dilir, and other) as well as type of residence in Somalia (urban vs rural). Family characteristics included the sex of the head of household, 1 number of girls under age 18 residing in the original household (none, one, two or more) – to account for potential sister effects [ 34 ] – as well as whether the mother was married as a child. Displacement-related variables included number of times a household moved in the past 12 months (none, once, two or more), duration in years in the camp – modelled as a continuous variable , and unemployment of head of household (currently working vs not currently working) .…”

Local crime and early marriage: Evidence from India

“…2 The existing literature has studied the determinants and impacts of early marriage of young girls in developing country contexts, with a specific focus on South Asia. These studies document both the causes (Mathur et al 2003;Oleke et al 2006;Palermo and Peterman 2009;Walker 2012) and consequences (Jensen and Thornton 2003;Maria Pesando and Abufhele 2018;Sekhri and Debnath 2014;Senderowitz 1995) of early marriage. The findings suggest factors such as household poverty, parental education, access to opportunities, social norms, and more are important drivers of early marriage of young women.…”

“…There are many such incentive schemes active across India. However, despite these efforts, the overall prevalence of early marriage among female adolescents around the world has yet to show a significant decline.2 The Sustainable Development Goals specifically include the elimination of child marriage as one of its targets (5.3) within the broader goal of gender equality, following the United Nations Human Rights Council's unanimous adoption of a resolution to 'eliminate child, early and forced marriage' in 2015.3 While early marriage is an issue for both genders, it has particular implications for females(Jensen and Thornton 2003;Maria Pesando and Abufhele 2018). Early marriage has been associated with withdrawal of adolescent girls from education and limited engagement with the labour market, as well as low literacy rates, increased risk of sexual violence, and poor health outcomes for women and their offspring(Bhanji and Punjani 2014;Nour 2009; Zahangir and Kamal 2011).…”