Association of Child Marriage with Intimate Partner Violence in Four African Countries

This study examines the association between child marriage and women's experience of intimate partner emotional, physical and sexual violence in the past twelve months. Data are derived from Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in 2007-2010 in Ghana, Nigeria, Malawi, and Zambia. The analysis is based on currently married women aged 20-29 years who are in their first marriage. Twenty-eight percent of respondents in Ghana, 48 percent of those in Malawi and more than 50 percent of those in Nigeria and Zambia were married before their 18th birthday. Multivariate logistic regression analyses indicate that child marriage is associated with higher odds of women experiencing sexual violence in Ghana, physical violence in Malawi, and emotional violence in Zambia. In Nigeria, the association between child marriage and emotional violence is mediated by individual- and relationship-level characteristics. In Nigeria and Zambia, first marriage at ages 15-17 is associated with higher odds of physical violence in the past 12 months than first marriage in adulthood. The findings suggest that there is a need for child marriage prevention and domestic violence prevention programs to work together to change the cycle of these forms of violence against women and the social norms that support them.