Demography
Volume 54, Issue 4, 2017, Pages 1401-1423

Forced Marriage and Birth Outcomes (Article)

Becker C.M. , Mirkasimov B. , Steiner S.*
  • a Department of Economics, Duke University, 213 Social Sciences, Durham, NC 27708-0097, United States
  • b Westminster International University in Tashkent (WIUT), 12, Istiqbol Street, Tashkent, 100047, Uzbekistan, University of Central Asia (UCA), 138, Toktogul Street, Bishkek, 720001, Kyrgyzstan
  • c Institute for Development and Agricultural Economics, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Königsworther Platz 1, Hannover, 30167, Germany, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Schaumburg-Lippe-Straße 5-9, Bonn, 53113, Germany

Abstract

We study the impact of marriages resulting from bride kidnapping on infant birth weight. Bride kidnapping—a form of forced marriage—implies that women are abducted by men and have little choice other than to marry their kidnappers. Given this lack of choice over the spouse, we expect adverse consequences for women in such marriages. Remarkable survey data from the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan enable exploration of differential birth outcomes for women in kidnap-based and other types of marriage using both OLS and IV estimation. We find that children born to mothers in kidnap-based marriages have lower birth weight compared with children born to other mothers. The largest difference is between kidnap-based and arranged marriages: the magnitude of the birth weight loss is in the range of 2 % to 6 % of average birth weight. Our finding is one of the first statistically sound estimates of the impact of forced marriage and implies not only adverse consequences for the women involved but potentially also for their children. © 2017, Population Association of America.

Author Keywords

Kyrgyzstan forced marriage Bride kidnapping Birth weight

Index Keywords

statistics and numerical data Age Factors female Socioeconomic Factors pregnancy outcome Kyrgyzstan socioeconomics Humans epidemiology pregnancy Birth Weight marriage crime Young Adult human adult age
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85026782193&doi=10.1007%2fs13524-017-0591-1&partnerID=40&md5=8c93c85ae78cc872ed05ca160cdbe466
DOI: 10.1007/s13524-017-0591-1
ISSN: 00703370
Cited by: 2
Original Language: English