Role of marriage, motherhood, son preference on adolescent girls’ and young women’s empowerment: Evidence from a panel study in India

BACKGROUND: Marriage is a key determinant of health and well-being of adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in India. It is a key life event in which girls move to their marital households, often co-residing with their in-laws and begin childbearing. The change in the normative environment in conjunction with cultural norms surrounding son preference influences women’s overall life course. However, there is scant research about the association between these life transitions and changes in empowerment among AGYW in India. METHODS: Using two waves of data from prospective cohort panel dataset that followed unmarried (6,065 observations in each wave) and married AGYW (3,941 observations from each wave) over a three-year period from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, we examined how marriage, childbearing, and having a son is associated with changes in AGYW’s empowerment, especially considering whether AGYW marry into patrilocal households (household with in-laws) as an effect modifier. Empowerment indicators included freedom of movement or mobility, decision-making power, access to economic using Kabeer’s framework as our theoretical approach. RESULTS: Marriage was associated with lower freedom of movement with a pronounced effect on those who co-resided with their in-laws. Marriage was associated with greater decision-making power for AGYW who did not co-reside with the in-laws. Motherhood was positively correlated with greater freedom of movement, marginally higher intrahousehold decision-making power, and better access to economic resources. No statistically significant evidence that having at least one son compared to having daughters only (or no daughters) conferred additional changes in girls’ freedom of movement, intrahousehold decision-making power, and access to economic resources. CONCLUSION: Findings highlight the importance of understanding the vulnerabilities of being newly married in adolescence and emphasize the need for having interventions that target newly married AGYW along with mothers-in-law to empower them.