NDLI: Ethnicity, religious affiliation and girl-child marriage: a cross-sectional study of nationally representative sample of female adolescents in Nigeria

Content Provider	Springer Nature : BioMed Central
Author	Mobolaji, Jacob Wale Fatusi, Adesegun O. Adedini, Sunday A.
Abstract	Background The persistently high prevalence of girl-child marriage remains a public health and developmental concern in Nigeria. Despite global campaign against the practice and policy efforts by Nigerian government, the prevalence remains unabated. This study investigates the prevalence and the influence of ethnicity and religious affiliation on the girl-child marriage among female adolescents in Nigeria. Methods Data of 7804 girls aged 15–19 years extracted from the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey were used. Ethnic groups were classified into five: major Northern ethnic group (Hausa/Fulani); Northern ethnic minorities; two major Southern ethnic groups (Yoruba and Igbo), and Southern ethnic minorities. The prevalence of girl-child marriage was determined for the five ethnic groups and individually for each ethnic minority group. Relationships between ethnicity and religious affiliation on girl-child marriage were explored using Cox proportional hazard regression models, adjusting for residence, education and wealth quintile. Results Child marriage was higher for the Northern majority ethnic group of Hausa/Fulani (54.8%) compared to the two major Southern ethnic groups (3.0–3.6%) and aggregated Northern ethnic minorities (25.7%) and Southern minorities (5.9%). However, overall, the less known Northern ethnic minority groups of Kambari (74.9%) and Fulfude (73.8%) recorded the highest prevalence. Compared to the major Southern ethnic group of Yoruba, the adjusted hazard ratio (AHR) of child marriage was significantly higher for Northern ethnic minorities (AHR = 2.50; 95% C.I. = 1.59–3.95) and Northern major ethnicity (AHR = 3.67, 95% C.I. = 2.33–5.77). No significant difference was recorded among Southern ethnic groups. Girls affiliated to other religions (Muslim and traditionalist) had higher child-marriage risks compared to Christians (AHR = 2.10; 95% C.I. = 1.54–2.86). Conclusion Ethnicity and religion have independent associations with girl-child marriage in Nigeria; interventions must address culturally-laden social norms that vary by ethnic groups as well as religious-related beliefs.
Related Links	https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s12889-020-08714-5.pdf
Ending Page	10
Page Count	10
Starting Page	1
File Format	HTM / HTML
ISSN	14712458
DOI	10.1186/s12889-020-08714-5
Journal	BMC Public Health
Issue Number	1
Volume Number	20
Language	English
Publisher	BioMed Central
Publisher Date	2020-04-29
Access Restriction	Open
Subject Keyword	Public Health Medicine Epidemiology Biostatistics Vaccine Environmental Health Child marriage Adolescents Religion Ethnicity Female Nigeria Medicine/Public Health
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Journal Impact Factor	3.5/2023
5-Year Journal Impact Factor	3.9/2023

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
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7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
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9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

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