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In recent decades, adolescent motherhood lias emergedas an issue of increasing concern through out the developing andthe developed world. There is a growing awareness that earlychildbearing is a health risk for both the mother and the child Also,it usually terminates a girl's educational career, threatening herfuture economic prospects, earning capacity, and overall well-being. Thus, adolescent motherhood has significant ramifications atthe personal, societal and global levels. The aim of this paper is toinvestigate the scenario of earl) marriage and adolescentmotherhood in rural Rajshahi of Bangladesh. Using the data froml96 currently married adolescent girls aged between 15 and l9years it was found that 50% of them gave first birth before l 9 yearsof age. Mean age at marriage and mean age at _first birth of thesecurrently married adolescent was found to be 15.18 and 16. I6 yearsrespectively. Using the most reliable statistical techniquesimultaneous linear probability model was fitted and found thateducation was the single most significant factor that affected bothearly marriage and earlier first birth after getting marriage. Inaddition, the result of the study show that increased education levelincreased the age at first marriage and delayed adolescentmotherhood. |
