Peer-reviewed article
Association Between Child Marriage and Intimate Partner Violence: A Kenyan National Analysis.
Shankey Verma ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study analysed data from 12,888 Kenyan women to examine the relationship between child marriage and intimate partner violence. Child marriage affects nearly one-third of Kenyan women, and those who married before age 18 are significantly more likely to experience emotional, physical, and sexual violence from their partners. The findings show child marriage is a strong risk factor for all forms of intimate partner violence, with physical violence being 31% more likely among those who married as children.
Key points
- 31.23% of Kenyan women surveyed had been married before age 18
- 44.8% of women experienced at least one form of intimate partner violence
- Women married before age 18 had 25% higher odds of experiencing any form of intimate partner violence
- Physical intimate partner violence was 31% more likely among women married as children (OR = 1.57)
- Emotional and physical intimate partner violence were significantly elevated in child marriages, but sexual violence showed a smaller increase
Limitations
The study is cross-sectional and cannot establish causality or determine whether child marriage directly causes intimate partner violence or if other factors explain both outcomes. The analysis relies on self-reported data from the 2022 KDHS survey and cannot capture unreported violence or provide detailed context about the circumstances surrounding these marriages.
Abstract
Child marriage and intimate partner violence (IPV) are global health crises that violate individual human rights. Prior research has linked child marriage to IPV in lower-and-middle-income countries; however, information regarding this relationship in Kenya is sparse. The present study aims to (a) estimate the prevalence of child marriage and various forms of IPV (emotional, physical, and sexual) and (b) examine the association between child marriage and IPV among Kenyan women. This study utilized the most recent 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS), a large scale and nationally representative dataset. A total of 12,888 participants (Mage = 32.35 years; SD = 7.96) were included in the final analysis. The prevalence rates of child marriage and experiencing at least one form of IPV, emotional, physical, and sexual IPV, were found to be 31.23%, 44.8%, 34.5%, 32.6%, and 10.1%, respectively. Multinomial regression models revealed that the likelihood of experiencing at least one form of IPV was 25% higher (OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.16-1.36, p < .01), emotional IPV was 19% higher (OR = 1.19, 95% CI = 1.09-1.29, p < .01), and physical IPV was 31% higher (OR = 1.57, 95% CI = 1.21-1.43, p < .01) among Kenyan women who married before the age of 18 years. Findings highlight the need for effective policy enforcement and implementation to prevent child marriage and safeguard women from IPV within child marriages.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- None evaluated; this is an observational analysis of associations
- Population
- 12,888 Kenyan women aged 15-49 years from the 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (nationally representative sample)
Key finding
Women married before age 18 had 25% higher odds of experiencing any form of intimate partner violence (OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.16-1.36)