title: Female age at marriage in Northern Karnataka.
abstract: "The aim of this paper is to (i) furnish the recent trends in female age at marriage in rural Northern Karnataka [India] and (ii) examine the socio-cultural factors influencing very early marriages.  The main data set used is from a cohort analysis pertaining to girls born in rural Dharwad during 1962-1972.  The median age at marriage is 16 years.  Further, two-thirds of the girls are married before 18 years and nearly one-fourth of the marriages are even pre-puberty cases.  Various factors--socio-cultural, social psychological, economic etc.--responsible for the perpetuation of very early marriages in the study area, in spite of the Child Marriage Restraint Act, are discussed."
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001208:Asia; D001519:Behavior; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003469:Culture; D003710:Demography; D003906:Developing Countries; D004467:Economics; D007194:India; D007878:Legislation as Topic; D008393:Marriage; D011153:Population; D011154:Population Characteristics; D011584:Psychology; D012424:Rural Population; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
keywords: Age Factors; Asia; Behavior; Cohort Analysis; Cultural Background; Demographic Factors; Developing Countries; Economic Factors; India; Legislation; Marriage; Marriage Age--women; Marriage Patterns; Nuptiality; Population; Population Characteristics; Psychosocial Factors; Rural Population; Socioeconomic Factors; Southern Asia