WUNRN
Via Population Council
Direct Link to Full 24-Page 2014 Study Report:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2014.00001.x/pdf
New Study Finds Adolescent
Childbearing in Iraq Has Risen Due to
Increased Early Marriage Among Less-Educated Women
A
study published today is the first detailed assessment of whether the 8-year
Iraq War had an effect on childbearing. The study found that before the war,
from 1997 to 2003, adolescent fertility in Iraq was stable at just below 70
births per 1,000 girls aged 15–19. However, soon after the beginning of the
war, adolescent fertility rose by more than 30 percent, reaching over 95 births
per 1,000 girls in 2010. The study is included in the December 2014 issue of Population
and Development Review, a peer-reviewed journal published by the Population
Council.
“This increase is striking,” says author Valeria Cetorelli, a PhD candidate in
demography at the London School of Economics and Political Science, “not only
because adolescent fertility in Iraq moved from moderate to high, as classified
by the United Nations, but because such a substantial increase in adolescent
fertility over such a short period is nearly unprecedented. To address this
situation, policymakers and civil society organizations in Iraq should expand
adolescent girls’ access to secondary education, as well as take measures to
restore an overall sense of security in their daily lives.”
The reason behind this rise in fertility, according to Cetorelli’s research, is
increased early marriage among less-educated adolescents. Between 2003 and
2010, marriage increased sharply among females in the youngest age groups, but
little among older females. Cetorelli found that the shift toward early
childbearing occurred particularly among adolescent girls with no education or
only primary schooling. Her research revealed a substantial drop in marital
fertility across all age groups other than adolescents. She found the
prevalence of early marriage and child bearing in Iraq among women with
secondary or higher education to be relatively low and unchanging since 2003.
After the start of the war in 2003, many women were prevented from
participating in public life or even from leaving their homes without a male
escort, likely in response to the actual and perceived dangers of harassment
and physical harm, as well as a resurgence of conservative social mores. In
this context, families may consider early marriage the best way to protect
their daughters and family honor.
“This trend is worrisome because women who marry during adolescence have lower
status in the home and may be at higher risk for intimate partner violence than
women who marry later,” said Cetorelli. “Early childbearing has been linked to
higher maternal mortality and morbidity, as well as poorer health outcomes for
children.”
“We know that decisions about schooling, marriage, and childbearing are
inextricably linked for adolescent girls and their families in low-income
settings,” said Population Council demographer Stephanie Psaki, who was not
affiliated with the study. “This study highlights the importance of providing
opportunities, including formal or nonformal education, for adolescent girls in
conflict-affected settings to ensure that they are able to live healthy and
productive lives when the conflict has ended.”
Cetorelli used retrospective birth history data from the 2006 and 2011 Iraq
Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys to reconstruct annual fertility trends from
1997 to 2010, allowing for comparisons over a period spanning before and after
the onset of the war.