Prevalence of adolescence marriage in conscripts of Turkish
Armed Forces
E. Gocgeldi1, B. Bakir1, S. Gungor2, A. Akyuz3, C. Acikel1, M. Gulec1, M.
Hasde1, T. Kaya3
1Gulhane Military Medical Academy, Dept. Public Health, Ankara,
Turkey, 2Gulhane Military Medical Academy, Dept. Obstetrics & Gynecology,
Ankara, Turkey, 3Gulhane Military Medical Academy, School of Nursery, Ankara,
Turkey
Background In Turkey Marriage is very important from a demographic
perspective because besides being prevalent throughout the country almost all
births occur within marriage. Data collected between April 2004 and January 2006
within the scope of Reproductive Health Project of Turkish Armed Forces has been
considered a valuable source to determine prevalence of marriages and certain
characteristics of married conscripts who were involved in reproductive Health
courses.
Methods Data of 484.949 cases from the Database of Reproductive Health
Program of Turkish Armed Forces was analyzed. Of all the cases, 36.468 were
married and descriptive analyses were carried on these cases.
Results The
overall rate of married conscripts was 7.5%. Of all married soldiers, 70.8% had
been married before the age of 20. Those who married between 20-24 and 25-29
were found as 12.2% and, 11.4% respectively. Primary school graduates
constituted the largest group with 37.2% among married soldiers. When all
participants were took into account, married soldiers formed 14.0%, 8.2%, 5.9 %,
6.1%, and 11.1% of respective educational levels as not completed primary
school, primary school, secondary school, high school, and higher education. The
distribution of married conscripts’ last residence before the onset of military
service was as follows according to the geographic regions; 27.9% Western region,
23.6% Central region, 11.0% South region, 9.3% Northern region, 26.5% East
region.
Conclusion Since the soldiers in higher education level are older than
the others, marriages can be considered normal for them. When conscripts with
higher education level were excluded, adolescence marriages were common in
conscripts with lower educational level.