Why do boys marry early? An enquiry into early marriages of young men in rural Uttar Pradesh, India

While early marriage among females has been studied widely, research across the globe has largely ignored the high prevalence of early marriage among males. This study explores sociocultural and economic factors associated with male child marriages in rural India. A primary survey was conducted in twelve villages in two districts of Uttar Pradesh, with 348 young men who got married before 21 years of age and their fathers who were personally interviewed. In addition, a few case studies and key informant interviews were also conducted from the study villages. Logistic regression and decomposition analysis was used. Results indicate that 27 percent of males in our sample got married below 18 years of age. In one-fifth of the cases, parents arranged early marriage of their sons because there were younger children to be married after him. Caste, religion, composition of children, household income, father’s education, and age at which father got married were the significant factors that contributed early marriages of young men. Parents, particularly fathers, play a vital role in influencing the marriage of their sons, including age of marriage. It is important to engage fathers in discouraging the practice of early marriage of boys. Programmatic efforts and campaigns are needed to eliminate the centuries-old cultural practice of child marriages in India’s backward regions.