Variation in Age at First Marriage among Women in Nigeria: A Multilevel Logistic Analysis.

Abstract

Early marriage is associated with early childbearing particularly in the developing countries which is also related to low status of women, increased fertility rate, and adverse health risks on the mother and child. Multilevel Logistic regression model was applied to data on 3063 women who are married or have lived or are living with sexual partner(s) who participated in the 2005 National AIDS/HIV Reproductive Health Survey in Nigeria. The intercept is estimated as 0.2376 which translates to an expected proportion of 0.56. 41.42% of the variance in age at first marriage is attributed to the state-level. Christian women were found to be 2.26 times more likely to marry at later age other than 17 years compared to their Muslim counterpart. Women in urban areas were 1.44 times more likely to marry early than rural dwellers. Women with Koranic education alone are 43.72% more likely to marry early; women with secondary and higher education are 3.44 and 4.8 times more likely to marry at ages above 17 years compared to women with primary education only. For state-level factors, women from the North-west and North-east zones are 77% and 62% respectively more likely to marry at age less than 18 years compared to women from the North-central. South-east and South-west women are 2.29 and 4.15 times less likely to marry prematurely when compared with women from the North-central.

Keywords: Multilevel models, logistic regression, hierarchical, odds, age at first marriage.