PREMARITAL CHILDBEARING AND ADOLESCENT MARRIAGE IN THE GAMBIA: AN ASSESSMENT OF CHANGES OVERTIME

Ismaila Jarjusey, National Population Commission Secretariat, The Gambia

This study examines the marriage behavior of Gambian women during adolescence in response to premarital childbearing, putting into consideration the period of pregnancy in the overall measure of this factor. Utilizing The Gambia Demographic and Health Survey 2019-20 data, I employ Event History Analysis approach, specifically Piecewise Constant Exponential Model. Model one incorporates the pregnancy period in the overall measure of premarital childbearing, while model two distinguishes this with the period after childbirth (age at first birth), by treating the two periods as separate categories and comparing these with their non-pregnant counterparts. The results found an overall positive effect of premarital childbearing on adolescent marriage, with unmarried pregnancy having a substantially higher hazard of adolescent marriage than their non-pregnant peers. Additionally, differences in adolescent marriage increases over time for older women aged 40-49 through those aged 20-29, then a significant decline in the difference for the youngest generation (aged 15-19). The results also show that the period of pregnancy and the period after first childbirth affect adolescent marriage differently. The study confirms the robustness of pregnancy impact on adolescent marriage when measuring the premarital childbearing variable, as well as the importance of other demographic characteristics influencing this relationship.

Keywords: Children, Adolescents, and Youth, Families, Unions and Households, Fertility

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