Impact of child marriage on nutritional status and anaemia of children under 5 years of age: empirical evidence from India

Despite several international commitments and national policies to eliminate the practice of girl child marriage, it remains pervasive in India. In this study, we aimed to examine the association between child marriage and nutritional status and anaemia in children aged below 5 years. We have used t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Public health (London) 2019-12, Vol.177, p.95-101
Main Authors: Paul, P., Chouhan, P., Zaveri, A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Anaemia
Anemia
Anemia - epidemiology
Chi-square test
Child marriage
Child, Preschool
Childhood
Children
Confidence intervals
Empirical analysis
Empirical Research
Female
Growth Disorders - epidemiology
Health surveys
Humans
India
India - epidemiology
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Male
Marriage
Marriage - statistics & numerical data
Mothers
Nutrition
Nutritional Status
Policies
Regression analysis
Risk Assessment
Statistical analysis
Statistical tests
Thinness - epidemiology
Underweight
Variables
Wasting Syndrome - epidemiology
Wives
Women
Young Adult
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Summary:Despite several international commitments and national policies to eliminate the practice of girl child marriage, it remains pervasive in India. In this study, we aimed to examine the association between child marriage and nutritional status and anaemia in children aged below 5 years. We have used the data from the latest round of the Indian National Family Health Survey (NFHS), conducted in 2015–2016. For this study, the sample was limited to 80,539 living children aged below 5 years born to 60,003 ever-married women aged 15–24 years. We have considered children's stunting, wasting, underweight and anaemia as outcomes variables and child marriage (married below 18 years) as the exposure of variables of interest. Pearson's Chi-squared test and binary logistic regressions were applied to assess the associations. About 58% of sample women were married before 18 years of age. The prevalence of children's stunting, wasting and underweight were 37%, 23% and 36%, respectively. More than half of the sample children (62%) were anaemic. Regression analysis revealed that child marriage (
ISSN:0033-3506
1476-5616
DOI:10.1016/j.puhe.2019.08.008