The Association of Adolescent Demographics and Perceptions on Child Marriages in Nusa Penida, Bali: A Cross-Sectional Study

Dean Batrisha, Universitas Gadjah Mada
Sekar Putri Andriani, Universitas Gadjah Mada
Lukman Ade Chandra, Universitas Gadjah Mada

The second-highest number of Southeast Asian women marry before 18 is in Indonesia. Bali had a lower incidence rate than other provinces, fluctuating between 2015 and 2018. Child marriage, a multifactorial human rights violation, persists in rural areas therefore developing a comprehensive health program to assess adolescent views on child marriage is. A cross-sectional study was conducted at three public junior high schools in Batukandik and Batumadeg Village, Nusa Penida. This study consisted of two questionnaires: early marriage causes and a 4-domain Likert scale perception questionnaire with 311 participants. An association study determined demographics that predict precepted causes of early marriage. Significant predictors (P<0.05) included age, gender, maternal and paternal education, and youth organization participation. In the multivariate analysis, female sex precepted the association between early marriage with economic and educational background (P=0.042;0.041). Youth organization involvement predicted promiscuity-early marriage agreement (P=0.015). Most respondents agree on existing attitude, negative effects, and child health education. Age was linked to different mean Likert scores for existing attitude, negative effect, and health education agreement (P=0.03;<0.01;<0.01), while income was linked to health education agreement and norms (P=0.024;0.018). In conclusion, demographic factors can affect child marriage views, thus a multisectoral strategy should be implemented.

Keywords: Children, Adolescents, and Youth, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, Family Planning and Contraception, Inequality, Disadvantage and Discrimination

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