Council Projects | First-time Parents Project

PROJECT
First-time Parents Project

Sexual activity among adolescent females in India takes place overwhelmingly within the context of marriage. While age at marriage for girls is increasing in India, as elsewhere in the developing world, early marriage continues to be a significant practice. Nationwide, 24 percent of 20–24-year-old girls are married by age 15; 50 percent are married by age 18 (IIPS and ORC Macro 2000). As many as 34 percent of adolescent girls aged 15–19 are already married, presumably sexually active, and under pressure to bear a first child, while fewer than 10 percent of unmarried girls are reported to be sexually experienced (IIPS and ORC Macro 2000; Jejeebhoy 2000).

Despite the high prevalence of early marriage in India, little is known about the lives of married girls, about the nature of the early years of marriage, and the pressures on young women, and little has been done to support them. Although sexual activity occurs within the socially sanctioned institution of marriage, marriage does not inherently make the sex safe, voluntary, or pleasurable. Nor does the fact that the birth is often desired, expected by the community, or within the marital boundary make childbearing safe for a young first-time mother. In view of this, the Population Council, in partnership with Deepak Charitable Trust in Vadodara and the Child In Need Institute in Kolkata initiated this intervention project. Findings from this effort will fill a significant gap in existing research, providing insight about the situation and needs of recently married and first-time pregnant/postpartum adolescent girls and young women in India as well as insight on the feasibility and effects of the interventions.

This project aims to develop and test an integrated package of health and social interventions that would improve young females’ reproductive and sexual health knowledge and practices, and increase their ability to act in their own interests. It derives from the hypothesis that the periods following marriage and surrounding the first birth, though of greater vulnerability, offer a unique and powerful entry point for improving the prospects of young mothers.

Project objectives are to:

better understand the social moment and transition of new marriage and a first birth, including the critical role of partners/fathers and other family members in decisionmaking and supportive/detrimental behaviors; and
develop and test interventions designed to increase social support to recently married young women and first-time mothers and provide services tailored to address their needs after marriage and during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period.

This quasi-experimental, case-control research study with quantitative surveys at baseline and endline will enable analysis of the effects of the interventions, specifically on young women’s reproductive health knowledge and practice, partner communication and support, and girls’/young women’s social networks and agency. The intervention, implemented over a two-year period, 2003–2004, comprises three major components: information provision, adjustments in existing health services, and group formation. The interventions were directed to several groups, including newly married young women, young women pregnant for the first time, postpartum first-time mothers, husbands of these young women, mothers and mothers-in-law, and the broader community.

Intervention activities were completed by the end of 2004, however, partner organizations have requested and received no-cost extensions to make efforts to incorporate activities for young women within their broader programs of work. An endline survey, begun in March 2005, is currently underway in both the sites and expected to be completed by the end of 2005. A report highlighting the situation of young married women as revealed in the baseline survey has been completed and is currently under review. Analysis comparing baseline and endline data will be conducted in 2006. National- and state-level dissemination meetings will take place in 2006.

Location

Two sites, West Bengal and Gujarat, India

Duration

2003–2005

Population Council researchers

K.G. Santhya (New Delhi), Nicole Haberland (New York)

Non-Council collaborators

Child In Need Institute, Kolkata

Deepak Charitable Trust, Vadodara

International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai

Donors

The Community Foundation for National Capital Region