Abdurahman Dureti, Assefa Nega, Berhane Yemane
Department of Public Health, College of Health and Medical Sciences, Haramaya University, Harar, Ethiopia.
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Addis Continental Institute of Public Health, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Front Glob Womens Health. 2022 Oct 5;3:911648. doi: 10.3389/fgwh.2022.911648. eCollection 2022.
Strong social norms around early marriage put pressure on parents to marry off their adolescent girls at an early age. Early marriage is widely practiced in many parts of Ethiopia. However, early marriage studies rarely address the role of social norms. This study aims to examine the role of social norms on parents' intention to marry off adolescent girls early in Eastern Ethiopia.
A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from September to November 2019. A multistage sampling procedure was applied to select the study participants. Factors related to parents' intention for early marriage were assessed through the lens of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Adjusted Prevalence Ratio (PR) was calculated using a log-binomial model to identify factors associated with intention toward early marriage.
A total of 859 mothers and 859 fathers of unmarried girls were included in the study. The prevalence of intention to marry off their daughter early among mothers was 39.70% (95% CI = 36.4-43.0%) and 43.54% (95%CI = 40.2-47.1%) among fathers of adolescent girls [chi2(1) = 41.8; < 0.001]. The intention for an early marriage was higher among mothers and fathers with favorable attitude towards early marriage, in those who believe that most people in their reference group conform to early marriage norms (empirical expectation), in those who believe that most people in their reference group expect them to conform to early marriage norms (normative expectation) and among fathers who did not know the legal age of marriage for adolescent girls and those who did not know the health consequences of early marriage. The prevalence of intention toward early marriage was lower among mothers (APR = 0.49; 95% CI: 0.36-0.65) and fathers (APR = 0.62; 95% CI: 0.49-0.78) in urban areas; and among mothers (APR = 0.41; 95% CI: 0.27-0.62) and fathers (APR = 0.50; 95% CI: 0.38-0.67) with higher educational level.
The social norms that promote intention for early marriage are still high among parents, especially among those living in rural areas and uneducated. Hence, interventions that aim to reduce early marriage need to address locally relevant social norms.
围绕早婚的强烈社会规范给父母施加压力，促使他们早早将青春期女儿嫁出。早婚在埃塞俄比亚的许多地区广泛存在。然而，早婚研究很少涉及社会规范的作用。本研究旨在探讨社会规范在埃塞俄比亚东部父母早早嫁出青春期女儿意愿方面所起的作用。
于2019年9月至11月开展了一项基于社区的横断面研究。采用多阶段抽样程序来选取研究参与者。通过计划行为理论（TPB）的视角评估与父母早婚意愿相关的因素。使用对数二项式模型计算调整患病率比（PR），以确定与早婚意愿相关的因素。
该研究共纳入了859名未婚女孩的母亲和859名父亲。青春期女孩的母亲中早早嫁出女儿的意愿患病率为39.70%（95%置信区间 = 36.4 - 43.0%），父亲中这一比例为43.54%（95%置信区间 = 40.2 - 47.1%）[卡方(1) = 41.8；P < 0.001]。对早婚持赞同态度的母亲和父亲、那些认为其参照群体中的大多数人遵循早婚规范的人（实证期望）、那些认为其参照群体中的大多数人期望他们遵循早婚规范的人（规范期望），以及那些不知道青春期女孩法定结婚年龄和那些不知道早婚健康后果的父亲中，早婚意愿更高。城市地区的母亲（调整患病率比 = 0.49；95%置信区间：0.36 - 0.65）和父亲（调整患病率比 = 0.62；95%置信区间：0.49 - 0.78）中早婚意愿的患病率较低；教育水平较高的母亲（调整患病率比 = 0.41；95%置信区间：0.27 - 0.62）和父亲（调整患病率比 = 0.50；95%置信区间：0.38 - 0.67）中早婚意愿的患病率也较低。
促进早婚意愿的社会规范在父母中仍然很高，尤其是在农村地区的父母和未受过教育的父母当中。因此，旨在减少早婚的干预措施需要解决当地相关的社会规范问题。
