Abstract:
Background:Early marriage has been a deep rooted traditional and global problem with
multifaceted consequences. It has been most severe in less developing nations like
Ethiopia with regional variation where Amhara Region accounted the highest
prevalence. Therefore, the objective of this study is to assess the prevalence and
associated factorswith early marriage in Deraworeda, North West Ethiopia.
Methods: Community based cross sectional study was employed from November 5to
December 20 2015. A total of 846 householdswere selected using multi-stage sampling
technique. The data were collected using pre-tested and structured questionnaire. Data
were entered to Epi-lnfo version 7 and analyzed using SPSS version 20. Descriptive,
bivariate and multivariable logistic regression was carried out. The strength of
association were estimated using OR with 95% Cl.
Result: A total of 842 participants responded for the interviews making the response
rate 99%.Majority 688(81.7%) of the respondents were fathers, 138 (16.4%) of mothers
and others 16(1.9%). About 539 (64.0%) respondents wedded their daughters before 18
years of age. Eighteen percent of girls married before their 15 years old. The mean
marital age was (16.67 ±2.392).The highest prevalence of early marriage was reported
among those of other than father headed, having illiterate educational level, lower
awareness of minimum legal marital age, low awareness of disadvantage and negative
consequence of early marriage and house hold families having >5 members of
respondents. Child marriage was also more common among wedded daughters have
less than secondary education.
Key word