IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v97y2013icp124-133.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Child marriage prevention in Amhara Region, Ethiopia: Association of communication exposure and social influence with parents/guardians' knowledge and attitudes

Author

Listed:
  • Gage, Anastasia J.

Abstract

Despite increasing international attention to child marriage and its negative health and social consequences, little is known about the knowledge and beliefs of individuals who are in control of negotiating children's marriages and of the social context in which these individuals function. Using data from a 2007 cross-sectional household survey and multilevel logistic regression models, this paper examined the associations of communication exposure and measures of social influence with knowledge of marriage legislation, perceptions that marriage before age 18 was “too early”, and beliefs in daughters' rights to individual marriage choice among parents/guardians in Amhara Region, Ethiopia. The study found that mass media and interpersonal communication exposure were positively associated with all outcomes. The influence of communication exposure on knowledge of the legal minimum age at marriage and the perception that marriage before 18 was “too early” varied significantly across communities. Community pressure to stop child marriages and awareness of marriage law enforcement were positively associated with endorsing daughters' rights to choose their marriage age and partner. Perceived social norms regarding early marriage, normative beliefs and perceived benefits of delayed marriage were at least as important as communication exposure for endorsing daughters' rights to marriage choice. Gender and education differences were detected. The findings imply that child marriage-prevention programs should diversify information channels, reinforce perceived advantages of delayed marriage, and adopt a social influence perspective.

Suggested Citation

  • Gage, Anastasia J., 2013. "Child marriage prevention in Amhara Region, Ethiopia: Association of communication exposure and social influence with parents/guardians' knowledge and attitudes," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 124-133.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:97:y:2013:i:c:p:124-133
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.08.017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953613004693
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.08.017?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. R. Lesthaeghe & K. Neels, 2002. "From the First to the Second Demographic Transition: An Interpretation of the Spatial Continuity of Demographic Innovation in France, Belgium and Switzerland," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 18(4), pages 325-360, December.
    2. Karasek, D. & Ahern, J. & Galea, S., 2012. "Social norms, collective efficacy, and smoking cessation in urban neighborhoods," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 102(2), pages 343-351.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rokicki, Slawa, 2021. "Impact of family law reform on adolescent reproductive health in Ethiopia: A quasi-experimental study," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    2. Gojjam Tadesse & Bereket Yakob, 2015. "Risky Sexual Behaviors among Female Youth in Tiss Abay, a Semi-Urban Area of the Amhara Region, Ethiopia," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(3), pages 1-16, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ekaterina Mitrofanova & Alyona Artamonova, 2016. "The perspectives of family policy in Russia amid increasing cohabitation," European Journal of Government and Economics, Europa Grande, vol. 5(1), pages 47-63, June.
    2. Daniela Smiraglia & Luca Salvati & Gianluca Egidi & Rosanna Salvia & Antonio Giménez-Morera & Rares Halbac-Cotoara-Zamfir, 2021. "Toward a New Urban Cycle? A Closer Look to Sprawl, Demographic Transitions and the Environment in Europe," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-14, January.
    3. Basu, Alaka & Desai, Sonalde, 2016. "Hopes, Dreams and Anxieties: India’s One-Child Families," MPRA Paper 117304, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Melindi-Ghidi, Paolo & Seegmuller, Thomas, 2019. "The love for children hypothesis and the multiplicity of fertility rates," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 89-100.
    5. Sebastian Klüsener & Martin Dribe & Francesco Scalone, 2016. "Spatial and social distance in the fertility transition: Sweden 1880-1900," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2016-009, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    6. Tomáš Sobotka & Kryštof Zeman & Vladimíra Kantorová, 2003. "Demographic Shifts in the Czech Republic after 1989: A Second Demographic Transition View," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 19(3), pages 249-277, September.
    7. Sebastian Klüsener & Brienna Perelli-Harris & Nora E. Sánchez Gassen, 2012. "Spatial aspects of the rise of nonmarital fertility across Europe since 1960: the role of states and regions in shaping patterns of change," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2012-005, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    8. Tomáš Sobotka, 2008. "Overview Chapter 6: The diverse faces of the Second Demographic Transition in Europe," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 19(8), pages 171-224.
    9. Liat Raz-Yurovich, 2012. "Normative and allocation role strain: role incompatibility, outsourcing, and the transition to a second birth in Eastern and Western Germany," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2012-024, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    10. Mihaela Preda & Alina Mareci & Anca Tudoricu & Ana-Maria Taloș & Elena Bogan & Ana Irina Lequeux-Dincă & Iuliana Vijulie, 2020. "Defining the Concept of Family through the Lens of Fertile-Aged Women in Bucharest, Romania—between Traditionalism and Inclusion," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-19, March.
    11. Jesus Rodrigo-Comino & Gianluca Egidi & Luca Salvati & Giovanni Quaranta & Rosanna Salvia & Antonio Gimenez-Morera, 2021. "High-to-Low (Regional) Fertility Transitions in a Peripheral European Country: The Contribution of Exploratory Time Series Analysis," Data, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-14, February.
    12. Arland Thornton & Prem Bhandari & Jeffrey Swindle & Nathalie Williams & Linda Young-DeMarco & Cathy Sun & Christina Hughes, 2020. "Fatalistic Beliefs and Migration Behaviors: A Study of Ideational Demography in Nepal," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 39(4), pages 643-670, August.
    13. Dylan Kneale & Ruth Lupton, 2010. "Are there neighbourhood effects on teenage parenthood in the UK, and does it matter for policy? A review of theory and evidence," CASE Papers case141, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    14. Gianluca Egidi & Luca Salvati & Andrea Falcone & Giovanni Quaranta & Rosanna Salvia & Renata Vcelakova & Antonio Giménez-Morera, 2021. "Re-Framing the Latent Nexus between Land-Use Change, Urbanization and Demographic Transitions in Advanced Economies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-17, January.
    15. Paola Di Giulio & Alessandro Rosina, 2006. "Intergenerational family ties and the diffusion of cohabitation in Italy," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2006-038, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    16. Hill Kulu & Andres Vikat & Gunnar Andersson, 2006. "Settlement size and fertility in the Nordic countries," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2006-024, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    17. Hill Kulu, 2004. "Fertility of internal migrants: comparison between Austria and Poland," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2004-022, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    18. Joana Nogueira, 2015. "Fertility and regional development in Portugal: from the first to the second demographic transition," ERSA conference papers ersa15p1454, European Regional Science Association.
    19. William A. V. Clark & Daichun Yi & Xin Zhang, 2020. "Do House Prices Affect Fertility Behavior in China? An Empirical Examination," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 43(5), pages 423-449, September.
    20. Mohammad Jalal Abbasi-Shavazi & Abbas Askari Nodoushan & Arland Thornton, 2012. "Family life and developmental idealism in Yazd, Iran," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 26(10), pages 207-238.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:97:y:2013:i:c:p:124-133. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.