Determinants of Iranian youths’ marriage age: A parametric survival analysis approach

Abstract

Background: Early and delayed marriage has their own effects on mothers and their children's health and social dimensions. Nowadays, Iran experiences delayed marriage due to several factors; thus, the present study was concocted to investigate the factors affecting youths’ marriage age, and to compare these factors between males and females. Methods: To study demographic, socio-economical, and some atitudinal behavior factors affecting the age of marriage, in the current cross-sectional study, 12741 Iranian pre-married youths including 6381 males and 6360 females from all provinces were selected using multi-stage stratified method and the data was collected using a structured questionnaire in 2014. The questionnaire included demographic, socio-economical, and some atitudinal behavior questions about childbearing. Kaplan-Meier, Log-Rank test, and parametric survival analysis were applied in IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 22.0., and SAS 9.3 software. Results: Gamma and Log Logistic parametric models were the best fitted models for females’ and males’ marriage age, respectively. Females and males who lived in provinces with TFR<2 were married α=0.03 (95%CI=0.02_-0.05) and α=0.05 (95%CI=0.04_0.06) times later than those who lived in provinces with TFR 2, respectively. Rural females and males married α=-0.06 (95%CI=-0.08_-0.03) and -0.02 (95%CI=-0.06_-0.03) times sooner than urban ones, respectively. As educational level, the number of siblings, and income increased, the youths’ marriage age increased (P<0.05). Employed youths also married later compared with unemployed ones. Conclusion: Young females and males had the same factors influencing their marriage age.

Keywords

• Faculty
• Iran
• Universities