title: Child marriage and women's attitude towards wife beating in a nationally representative sample of currently married adolescent and young women in Pakistan.
abstract: Child marriage (before 18 years) is widely prevalent in Pakistan, and disproportionately affects young girls in rural, low income and poorly-educated households. Our study aims to determine the association of child marriage and attitude towards wife beating among currently married Pakistani women aged 15-24 after controlling for social equity indicators (education, wealth index, rural residence).
  
  
  
  We limited the data from Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey, 2012-2013 to currently married women aged 15-24 years (n=2648). Five specified dichotomous variables indicating women's attitude towards wife beating (goes out without telling husband, neglects the children, argues with husband, refuses to have sex with husband, burns the food) were considered as outcome variables. The likelihood (OR and 95% CI) of each outcome variable for the child marriage group was estimated using logistic regression models.
  
  
  
  The prevalence of child marriage was significantly higher among women having no education and Balochi ethnicity, living in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region and rural area, and belonging to the poorest quintile of wealth index. Women married as children compared with women married as adults were more likely to justify wife beating for all five specified reasons. However, these associations were lost when social equity indicators and national region of residence were adjusted in the regression models.
  
  
  
  Highly prevalent child marriage practice among women can be minimized by promoting education and providing economic opportunities in Pakistan.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Medicine, School of Public Health, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany muazzam.nasrullah@gmail.com.|Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.|Injury Control Research Center, School of Public Health, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA.
authors.forename: Muazzam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nasrullah
authors.affiliation: Freelance Consultant, Clairmont Road, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
authors.forename: Sana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Muazzam
authors.affiliation: Emergency Radiology Department, Vancouver General Hospital, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Faisal
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Khosa
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Medicine, School of Public Health, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany.
authors.forename: Muhammad Mobarak Hussain
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Khan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D054541:Family Conflict / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008393:Marriage / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010154:Pakistan; D015995:Prevalence; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013179:Spouse Abuse / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Beating; Child marriage; Empowerment; Pakistan; Violence; Women