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Adolescent Marriage in Northeast Ethiopia: The Case of Delanta District

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Abstract

Background

Marriage below the age of 20 brings negative health consequences to female adolescents. Ethiopia is one of the top ten countries with the highest rates of child marriage despite the minimum legal age at first marriage was 18 years.

Objective

To assess the prevalence of adolescent marriage and its associated factors among young women of Delanta District, North-East Ethiopia.

Methods

A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 597 adolescent women between the age of 15 and 19. A cluster sampling technique was used for this study. Data were entered and cleaned by EpiData-3.02 and analyzed by SPSS-20.

Results

Around 40% of adolescents were married at the time of the survey. Adolescent marriage was twice higher among girls below the age of 18 (AOR: 2.12, 95%CI (1.15, 3.90)). Lack of comprehensive knowledge on obstetrics fistula prevention increases the risk of adolescent marriage by three folds.

Conclusion

This study indicated that adolescent marriage was higher in the area. Delaying the age at first marriage by implementing the Ethiopian Family Code proclamation is needed

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Availability of Data and Materials

The data sets used and analyzed for the study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. The investigators are responsible for all information provided to the journal.

Abbreviations

CSA:

Central Statistical Agency

EDHS:

Ethiopian Demography and Health Survey

IHRERC:

Institutional Health Research Ethics Review Committee

STIs:

Sexually transmitted infections

OFP:

Obstetric fistula prevention

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Acknowledgements

I would like to express my sincere and heartfelt gratitude to Delanta District Administrative Office for the provision of the necessary information that was an important input for the study; the Galladi Health Office for their support in every aspects of the research work. Also, I would like to thank study participants who were devoted their time to participate in the study; the community of selected sites of the district for their cooperation in all aspects they were asked. Finally, my everlasting love and appreciation is to my family especially my brothers Dessalew Adane and Wunete Masresha for their special support and all other family members and friends for their help.

Funding

Haramaya University covered all the costs incurred by the study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health, Woldia University, Woldia, Ethiopia

    Seteamlak Adana Masresha & Gedefaw Diress Alen

  2. Department of Nursing, Woldia University, Woldia, Ethiopia

    Mesfin Wudu Kassaw

Authors
  1. Seteamlak Adana Masresha
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  2. Mesfin Wudu Kassaw
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  3. Gedefaw Diress Alen
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Contributions

SAM, MWK, and GDA wrote the proposal and participate in the data collection and entry processes. They analyzed the data, drafted, read, and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Seteamlak Adana Masresha.

Ethics declarations

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were under the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Permission and ethical approval were obtained from Haramaya University College of Health and Medical Science after an ethical review of the contents of the proposal by the University Institutional Health Research Ethics Review Committee (IHRERC). Written, informed, and signed consent were taken from respondents of age 18 and above, and for those aged below 18 years, informed, written, and signed consent were taken from their guardian’s (biological families, caregiver, and husband) before their voluntarism and assent from the participants for interview. We confirmed that the IHRERC approved minor consents for this study. Participation in the study was fully voluntary.

Consent for Publication

This manuscript does not contain any individual/personal data in any form, so it does not need consent for publication.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no any conflict of interest.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 1 Characteristics of participants included in the study, Delanta District, 2016
Full size table
Table 2 Factors associated with adolescent marriage among women’s of Delanta District, 2016
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Fig. 1
figure 1

Schematic diagram of sampling procedure of adolescent women in Delanta District, 2016

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Masresha, S.A., Kassaw, M.W. & Alen, G.D. Adolescent Marriage in Northeast Ethiopia: The Case of Delanta District . Glob Soc Welf 8, 171–179 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40609-021-00206-7

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