Prevalence, determinants and socio-economic inequality of early marriage among men in India

The practice of child marriage still prevails in many communities of India, especially those are governed by customary and traditional practices. Although girls are excessively affected and form the vast majority of the victims of child marriage, boys are also subjected to early marriage. Much has been discussed about the child marriage of girls, but surprisingly early marriage of boys has received very little attention in India. This study attempted to explore the various reasons associated with early marriage among men and also investigate the region-wise inequality in India with the help of the concentration curve. Estimates of decomposition analysis for quantifying the contribution of various explanatory variables for early marriage among men were also presented. This study utilized data from National Family Health Survey-4 with a sample size of 71,666 ever-married men. Men who had higher education levels were 46% less likely to marry before the age 21 than men who had no education [OR: 0.54, P < 0.01]. Rajasthan (51%) witnessed the highest percentage of early marriage among men, followed by Madhya Pradesh (50.4%) and Uttar Pradesh (49.1%). It was found that education, caste, residence, and wealth status explain nearly three-fourths of the observed inequality in the occurrence of early marriage among men. It is suggested that for reducing the incidences of early marriages among men requires confrontation of the barriers embedded in laws, policies, and in social norms and values. It would be appropriate for policy-makers to direct their efforts to specific regions and communities where the prevalence of early marriage among men is still higher and an accepted norm.