Early Marriage and its Association with the Socioeconomic and Sociocultural Factors of Women in Sudan: A Predictive Model

1. INTRODUCTION

Early marriage is defined as any marriage before age 18 [1, 2]. Early marriage is a human rights violation. It has a huge negative effect, especially on girls [3-5]. UNICEF report that more than 12 million girls worldwide are married early. Of these 12 million, approximately 37% of early marriages occurred in sub-Saharan Africa and 30% in South Asia [6]. According to the Sudan Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2014 (MICS), 34.3% of the women had early marriage [7]. A study conducted in Ethiopia revealed that the prevalence of early marriage is 73%, and the prevalence is high in the Amhara region compared to other regions of the country [8]. Many studies conducted across the World stated that different contributing covariates of early marriage, such as place of residence, wealth index, family size, education level of the father, marital age, and exposure to the media [9-15]. A study conducted in Sudan revealed that 45.9% was the prevalence of women in early marriage [16]. The incidence of early marriage was significantly less among young women aged 20-24 years compared to their older counterparts [17]. It is reported that factors such as education levels of household heads and women, wealth status, mass media, family size, and residence were significant factors linked to early marriage [18]. It has been revealed that early marriage in Indonesia is determined by social and economic aspects within and surrounding the girls [19]. A study conducted in India demonstrated that early-married girls showed different patterns of growth compared to unmarried girls [20]. Previous studies revealed that inflation and income inequality are significant determinants of early marriage in Iran [21]. Early marriage has different consequences on women and their children's health and social issues. These include increased risk of depression and suicidality; compromised sexual, reproductive, and parental health [4, 22-25]. Early marriage is most common in Bangladesh compared to Indonesia [26]. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and determinants of socioeconomic and sociocultural factors associated with Women's early marriage in Gezira State in Sudan.

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS

2.2. Sample Design

The study was conducted in Gezira state (2021). Multistage cluster stratified sample designed to draw a represented sample. To distribute the sample on the strata, the proportional distribution of the sample was used, where the total community was divided into (8) strata representing the localities of the state of Al-Gezira. There are (120) administrative units (clusters). Within each cluster, households are selected and they represent the clusters of the second stage. A kish table was used for selecting the respondents. The random sampling method in any society is used to estimate the dependent variable and when the statistical population was homogeneous, the sample size was calculated using the following simple random sampling equation:

Where:

n₀ = The primary sample size

z: Standard variable contrast to a certain level of confidence (taken here 5%)

d: Statistical adjustment on both sides of p (taken here 5%)

P: Expected Society parameter

q = 1 - p

Now, the final sample size, according to the rate of confidence in the parameter estimation (P 95%) is 400, if the researcher takes a circular approximation. And the ca of the random sample design not be used due to in heterogeneity of the communities; we revise the design to a multi-stage cluster sample by multiplying by in by design effect which is 3, so the final sample size was:

3. RESULTS

The result of Table 1 revealed that marital status showed that 71% of the sample members were married, 23% were divorced, and 5.9% were widowed. According to the area of respondents, the prevalence of early marriage among rural areas was 57.3%, and 42.8% among urban areas.

Regarding the education level of the husband, 51.4% had a university education, 18.4% had postgraduates, 12.8% had secondary education, 7.4% had intermediate education, and 10.3% had primary education. The wife's education level illustrated that 48.3% had a university education, 17% had postgraduates, 15% had secondary education, 7.7% had intermediate education, and 12% had primary education.

In terms of the occupation of the wife, the results revealed that more than sixty were housewives (61.8%), 28.4% were employees, 7.6% were laborers, 1.1% had free jobs, and 1.2% were students. Similarly, the occupation of husband showed that 42.5% of respondents had a free job, 15.4% were employees, 8.3% worked as laborers, 0.8% were students, and 33.1% were without a job. Regarding the wealth index, the result explained that 28.7% of the participants were in the middle class, 27.1% were in the third class, and 9.6% were in the first class. On the other side, the result of the nature of the residence there was that 78.3% of respondents lived with parents and 21.7% of them were living in independent housing.

The results in Table 1 showed that the prevalence of early marriage among females in Gezira state was 54.9%, which indicated that more than half of the sample members were married early.

4. DISCUSSION

Early marriage is a risky phenomenon that spreads in societies, including Sudan, without finding appropriate solutions to this phenomenon, which claims many human lives and deprives many girls of their childhood, dreams, and right to education, and destroys many families that still marry off girls who have not reached the age of eighteen under the name of customs and traditions.

This study showed that the rate of early marriage in Gezira state was 54.9%, which is very high. This prevalence of early marriage is higher than that obtained by the Sudan Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2014 (MICS), which recorded a rate of 34.3%. This high rate may be due to the community values in Gezira state.

Regarding the area of respondents, the prevalence of early marriage among rural areas was 57.3% which indicated that the prevalence of early marriage in rural areas in Gezira state was higher than that in urban areas [9, 16].

The results showed that early marriage correlated with unemployment, this may be due to the participant's economic status; they think about the situation of being without work, they have no job obligations, so they decided to get married. This result agrees with the study conducted in Indonesia [19] where they found that early marriage in Indonesia is determined by social and economic aspects within and surrounding the girls. The low financial condition leads to early marriage, and this gives women motivation to get early marriage to improve their financial status.

On the other side, the study found that the factor of exposure to mass media like newspapers and magazines, watching TV and listening to the radio had an impact on early marriage. This result indicated that exposure to mass media influences the girl's decision about getting early marriage.

The result found there was a relationship between early marriage and the factors such as area, wealth index quantile, unemployment, reading newspapers and magazines, watching TV and listening to the radio. This result was in the same line as the results obtained by [10-12].

REFERENCES