Adolescent Boys' Attitude towards Marriage and Family Formation in Indian Rural Setup

M. Benarji Prasad, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
C.P. Prakasam, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

In the light of the changing rural Indian situation, this paper attempts to study the attitudes of marriage and family formation among teenagers. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. Using stratified systematic random sample, 400 boys aged 16-19 years of two religious groups have been selected in Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh, India through pre-designed questionnaire. For qualitative data, in-depth interviews and case studies have been carried out. In this study several concepts such as: ideal age at marriage for boys and girls, sources of decision-making on the choice of bridegroom, type of bridegroom, type of person treated as a wife, ideal age differences between spouses, ideal interval between first marriage and first conception, ideal birth interval between successive births (closed birth interval) have been to assessed. The net effects of background characteristics on desired Age at marriage of adolescent boys were assessed with logistic regression technique.