Correlates of Child Marriage in Zimbabwe

Abstract

In countries where child marriage remains widespread, concerted efforts are underway to eliminate it, but overall progress remains uneven and slow. One in three Zimbabwean girls marries by age 18. To inform the country’s efforts to reduce child marriage, data from 5,542 women aged 20 to 24 years in the 2005-2006, 2010-2011, and 2015 Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Surveys are used to examine individual-, household-, and cluster-level correlates. Cumulative incidence functions first document changes over time, and multilevel models are used to explore correlates. Although prevalence is high, younger cohorts were less likely to marry young. A woman’s education, wealth quintile, religion, and provincial residence correlated with marrying as a child. Cluster-level female schooling, number of children ever born, and proportions using contraceptives were also correlated with child marriage. Efforts should promote socioeconomic well-being and target cultural practices promoting the practice. Interventions targeting at-risk women should complement universal approaches to combating child marriage.

Prevalence of child marriage and its impact on fertility outcomes in 34 sub-Saharan African countries

“…Furthermore, the needs to reinforce social ties and protect daughters from sexual adversity as well as the believe of some parents that they can improve their social status by marrying off their daughters to a well-off family [17, 18], are among the leading factors promoting child marriage. Moreover, women’s educational attainment, wealth status, religious belief, and place of residence are associated with child marriage [19, 20]. Elsewhere, the practice of child marriage was found to be most prevalent among young women who live in disadvantaged households, lack school education, and dwell in rural residence [21].…”

The fertility revolution in Zimbabwe with special regards to proximate determinants of fertility

“…Ministry of Health and Child Care (2016), research show an increase in early teenage pregnancies in Zimbabwe. This is important, considering the gap between marriages and childbearing is very small in Zimbabwe (Chitereka and Nduna 2010;Sayi and Sibanda 2018). Thus, fertility stalling might be due to sustained cultural and traditional practices which promote early marriage and childbearing.…”

“…Undeniably, entry into marriage serves as a risk factor to childbearing as most of the childbearing was happening in marriages (Bongaarts 1982;Coale 1973). In Zimbabwe, a recent study by Sayi and Sibanda (2018) based on 2014 Zimbabwe Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (MICS) indicates that 1 in 4 women aged 15-19 years were currently married, while among 20-49 years about 32% were married before 18 years of age. Further, the gap between marriage and childbearing is very small as couples seek to strengthen their marriage with children (Chitereka and Nduna 2010).…”

“…On the one hand, since women in the polygamous union share time of husband, they have less exposure to sex than women in monogamous relationships and correspondingly have less risky to pregnancy. Moreover, women in polygamous unions have been noted to breastfeed longer than women in monogamous unions (Sayi and Sibanda 2018;Mhloyi 1988). On the other hand, Mhloyi (ibid.)…”

Effectiveness of the Sista2Sista programme in improving HIV and other sexual and reproductive health outcomes among vulnerable adolescent girls and young women in Zimbabwe

“…As a result, at 19 years of age, nearly half of girls (48.3%) have begun childbearing (ZIMSTAT & ICF International, 2016). These negative health outcomes are driven by gender inequality, intergenerational and transactional sex, poverty, low educational attainment, limited access to contraceptives, among other social, structural and behavioural factors (Sayi & Sibanda, 2018;Schaefer et al, 2017).…”