Background:Child marriage is a substantial barrier to social and economic
development in Nepal, and a primary concern for women’s health. Little
evidence from Nepal is available regarding the ways in which early
marriage may compromise young women’s lives and their reproductive
health and choices. The objectives of this study was to find out the factors
associated with early age marriages in Dhankuta Municipality.
Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted among the residents
of Dhankuta municipality, Nepal; where 246 households were taken as
subjects. Pretested semi-structured questionnaire was administered to
the study subjects and face to face interview was conducted. Chi-square
test was applied to find out the association between factors and age of
marriages.
Results: Almost 53.3% of women were married before age 18 years.
Education of wife and husband, and economic status are found to be the
important variables in explaining early age marriage. Prevalence of child
marriage was higher in Hindu than in Buddhist and Christian women but
the difference was not significant. Age of marriage was not significantly
associated with contraceptive use. Unwanted pregnancies were higher
in early age marriage. It was also seen that unwanted pregnancies was
higher (59.3%) than wanted pregnancies (48.6%).
Conclusion: The findings of the study indicate that early age marriage
was associated with low education and being poor.