Department of Public Health Medicine, School of Nursing and Public Health, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.
Department of Demography and Social Statistics, Faculty of Social Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
BMC Womens Health. 2022 May 11;22(1):158. doi: 10.1186/s12905-022-01733-x.
Globally, there has been a decline in female child marriage (FCM) from 1 in 4 girls married a decade ago to approximately 1 in 5 currently. However, this decline is not homogenous because some regions are still experiencing a high prevalence of FCM. As such, the United Nations reiterated the need for concentrated efforts towards ending FCM to avoid more than 120 million girls getting married before their eighteenth birthday by 2030. Following this, we examined the prevalence and factors associated with FCM in Nigeria using multi-level analysis.
We used cross-sectional data from the women's file of the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) conducted in 2018. A sample of 4143 young women aged 20-24 was included in the study. Our analysis involved descriptive, chi-square (χ) and multi-level analyses. Results were presented in percentages, frequencies, and adjusted odds ratios (aOR) with their respective confidence intervals (CIs).
The prevalence of FCM in 2018 was 65.30%. Young Muslim women aged 20-24 [aOR = 1.40; 95% CI (4.73-7.52)], those with parity between one and two [aOR = 5.96, 95% CI 4.73-7.52], those residing in North East [aOR = 1.55; 95% CI (1.19-2.10)] and North West [aOR = 1.59; 95% CI (1.18-2.16)] had a higher odd of practicing FCM respondents with secondary education and above [aOR = 0.36; 95% CI (0.29-0.46)], those within the richer wealth index [aOR = 0.35; 95% CI (0.23-0.54)] and young women living in communities with high literacy level [aOR = 0.74; 95% CI (0.59-0.92)] were less likely to get married before age 18 years.
Our findings indicate that FCM is high in Nigeria. Formal education, being rich and living in communities with high literacy levels were some protective factors that can be strengthened to ensure that FCM is reduced or eliminated in Nigeria. On the other hand, residing in North-East or North-West and having children between one and two were some prevailing factors that exacerbated the odds of experiencing FCM in Nigeria. Therefore, attention should be channelled towards mitigating these prevailing negative factors.
在全球范围内，女孩童婚率（FCM）从十年前的每四个女孩中就有一个下降到目前的大约五分之一。然而，这种下降并非均匀分布的，因为一些地区仍然存在很高的童婚率。因此，联合国重申需要集中精力结束童婚，以避免到 2030 年仍有 1.2 亿多名女孩在 18 岁生日前结婚。在此之后，我们使用多水平分析方法检查了尼日利亚童婚的流行情况和相关因素。
我们使用了 2018 年进行的尼日利亚人口与健康调查（NDHS）的妇女档案中的横断面数据。研究纳入了 4143 名年龄在 20-24 岁的年轻女性。我们的分析包括描述性、卡方（χ）和多水平分析。结果以百分比、频率和调整后的优势比（aOR）及其相应的置信区间（CI）表示。
2018 年童婚的流行率为 65.30%。20-24 岁的年轻穆斯林女性（aOR=1.40；95%CI（4.73-7.52））、生育一到两个孩子的女性（aOR=5.96，95%CI 4.73-7.52）、居住在东北部（aOR=1.55；95%CI（1.19-2.10））和西北部（aOR=1.59；95%CI（1.18-2.16））的女性、接受过中等教育及以上的女性（aOR=0.36；95%CI（0.29-0.46））、处于较富裕财富指数的女性（aOR=0.35；95%CI（0.23-0.54））以及生活在高识字率社区的年轻女性（aOR=0.74；95%CI（0.59-0.92））更不可能在 18 岁之前结婚。
我们的研究结果表明，童婚在尼日利亚非常普遍。正规教育、富有和生活在高识字率社区是一些可以加强的保护因素，可以确保在尼日利亚减少或消除童婚。另一方面，居住在东北部或西北部地区以及生育一到两个孩子是一些加剧尼日利亚童婚几率的普遍因素。因此，应该关注减轻这些普遍的负面因素。
