{"title":"Prevalence of and risk factors for early marriage and the correlations with depressive symptoms in northwest of Iran.","authors":"Hosein Azizi, Elham Davtalab Esmaeili, Parvin Bastani, Maryam Vaezi, Ehsan Sarbazi, Farzad Khodamoradi","doi":"10.1007/s00127-025-02840-4","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Early marriage (EM), also known as child marriage, is a marriage or union between two people when one or both are under 18. Globally, risk factors for EM and the consequences on depressive symptoms (DSs) have been poorly understood. The current study aimed to investigate risk factors for EM and the correlation between EM and DSs.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A total of 402 married people were randomly selected from the general population of Malekan County, Iran, from 2017 to 2018. Depression was assessed in the participants after EM through family physicians' medical records in the community health centers. Data were collected using valid and structured instruments as well as face-to-face interviews. Multiple logistic regression analysis was carried out to estimate the adjusted odds ratios (AOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the relationship between EM and DSs.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The overall and sex-based prevalence of EM was 21.64% (n = 87), i.e., 69 (26.5%) in females and 19 (13.4%) in males, respectively. In the regression analysis, the low educational level of EM people (AOR = 4.27: 1.28-14.35), their parental (AOR = 5.53: 2.14-17.22), female sex (AOR = 1.58: 1.07-2.33), and family low income (AOR = 2.74: 1.00-7.84), and being a housewife (AOR = 1.71: 1.22-3.26) were identified as the most reliable predictors of EM. In the final analysis, after adjusting for the potential confounders, EM was associated with an increased risk of DSs (AOR = 1.60: 1.2-2.72).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Based on the results, EM is common and associated with DSs in this county. Our study provides preliminary findings to guide future studies, given that this issue has been neglected in previous investigations. Progress in reducing EM and addressing its full set of consequences can occur through political commitment and combining the experiences and voices of people affected by EM.</p>","PeriodicalId":49510,"journal":{"name":"Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology","volume":" ","pages":"1741-1748"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-025-02840-4","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/2/14 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PSYCHIATRY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Purpose: Early marriage (EM), also known as child marriage, is a marriage or union between two people when one or both are under 18. Globally, risk factors for EM and the consequences on depressive symptoms (DSs) have been poorly understood. The current study aimed to investigate risk factors for EM and the correlation between EM and DSs.
Methods: A total of 402 married people were randomly selected from the general population of Malekan County, Iran, from 2017 to 2018. Depression was assessed in the participants after EM through family physicians' medical records in the community health centers. Data were collected using valid and structured instruments as well as face-to-face interviews. Multiple logistic regression analysis was carried out to estimate the adjusted odds ratios (AOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the relationship between EM and DSs.
Results: The overall and sex-based prevalence of EM was 21.64% (n = 87), i.e., 69 (26.5%) in females and 19 (13.4%) in males, respectively. In the regression analysis, the low educational level of EM people (AOR = 4.27: 1.28-14.35), their parental (AOR = 5.53: 2.14-17.22), female sex (AOR = 1.58: 1.07-2.33), and family low income (AOR = 2.74: 1.00-7.84), and being a housewife (AOR = 1.71: 1.22-3.26) were identified as the most reliable predictors of EM. In the final analysis, after adjusting for the potential confounders, EM was associated with an increased risk of DSs (AOR = 1.60: 1.2-2.72).
Conclusion: Based on the results, EM is common and associated with DSs in this county. Our study provides preliminary findings to guide future studies, given that this issue has been neglected in previous investigations. Progress in reducing EM and addressing its full set of consequences can occur through political commitment and combining the experiences and voices of people affected by EM.
期刊介绍：
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology is intended to provide a medium for the prompt publication of scientific contributions concerned with all aspects of the epidemiology of psychiatric disorders - social, biological and genetic.
In addition, the journal has a particular focus on the effects of social conditions upon behaviour and the relationship between psychiatric disorders and the social environment. Contributions may be of a clinical nature provided they relate to social issues, or they may deal with specialised investigations in the fields of social psychology, sociology, anthropology, epidemiology, health service research, health economies or public mental health. We will publish papers on cross-cultural and trans-cultural themes. We do not publish case studies or small case series. While we will publish studies of reliability and validity of new instruments of interest to our readership, we will not publish articles reporting on the performance of established instruments in translation.
Both original work and review articles may be submitted.
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