Correlates of Age at First Marriage Among Women in Addis Ababa
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Date
2009-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The age at/irst marriage has long been considered an issue ofprimaty interest in the disciplines
of marriage and the family as ,"ell women's studies. The issue has been taken on even greater
importance recently due to the impact of a trend towards rising at first marriage on fertility
levels, with further potentialjclr-reaching demographic, economic, and social ramifications, and
also affected by these factors. This study is primarily aimed al delermining important socio-economic and demographic factors
influencing age at first marriage among women of reproductive age residing in Addis Ababa. Life time event history da/a collected Fom a total of 598 women of reproductive age group
(i.e15-49 years), who were living in Addis Ababa continuously starting from age 12 or birlh
were analyzed using descripl ive. survival plot and Cox regression models. Descriplive and
survival plot were used to show Ihe differential in age at first marriage among differenl subgroup
of covariate whilst , Cox regression was used as a multivariate analysis tool to measure the net
effect of each covariate to effeclively utilize the samples who were not married so far at the time
of survey. Results of bivariate analysis show that there is an increasing trend in mean age at first marriage
(/i'om 27 to 29 years), and proporlion of never married (from 53 to 60 percent) between 1995 and
2009. The result of Cox regression on the other hand, revealed that educational level,
educational enrollment, work sial us as well as mother 's education are the most importantfactors
playing significant roles in del ennining of age at/irst marriage amongfemale residents of Addis
Ababa.
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Age at First Marriage Among Women