The Sequence of First Sexual, Marriage and Birth Events and Later-Life Reproductive Metric Indicators among Ugandan Women: Insights from a Cross-Sectional Study.

Christabellah Namugenyi, Makerere University
Claire Ashaba, Makerere University

This study focused on Ugandan women's early life experiences and how that accounts for their reproductive outcomes later in life. The first marriage, sex, and birth events occured in four different sequences, according to the 2016 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS), which included 57,906 women. Sequences included marriage, sex, birth; sex, birth, marriage; sex, marriage, birth; and sex, birth (no marriage). By age of 16, 72% of women had engaged in premarital sex. Marriage began early, at the age of 17, and childbirth frequently occurred within a year of the marriage. In the later lives of women who followed marriage-related sequences, the study highlights a high association between marriage and increased fertility rates, contraceptive use, and pregnancy termination in the presence of control variables. The study elucidates the dynamics of Ugandan women's reproductive behavior. Advocating for focused interventions is necessary to support young women and adolescent girls’ reproductive outcomes.