Cohabitation timing and childbearing or current pregnancy among married adolescents in Bangladesh: a complex-survey analysis of the 2022 BDHS
- 1University of Nevada-Las Vegas
Abstract
ObjectivesTo describe the prevalence of having had a live birth or being currently pregnant among ever-married adolescents in Bangladesh and examine its associations with cohabitation timing and partner characteristics among currently married adolescents.
DesignCross-sectional secondary analysis of the 2022 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS).
MethodsDescriptive estimates used 2,449 ever-married respondents aged 15-19. The long questionnaire was administered to 1,635; 1,603 were currently married, of whom 1,601 had complete information for the regression. Weighted logistic regression included current age, respondent education, five wealth quintiles, cohabitation age, husband education, signed spousal age gap, residence and division. Sampling weights, strata and primary sampling units were incorporated using a stratified cluster-based Taylor variance estimator. Current working status was evaluated in a sensitivity model. An asset-based principal component was examined separately as an exploratory sensitivity analysis.
ResultsAmong ever-married adolescents, weighted outcome prevalence was 59.7% (95% confidence interval [CI] 57.6-61.7). In the expanded model, cohabitation at ages 15-17 and 18-19, relative to below 15, was associated with lower odds (adjusted odds ratios [AORs] 0.170, 95% CI 0.113-0.256; and 0.026, 0.015-0.045). A signed spousal age gap of at least 11 years, versus at most five years, was associated with higher odds (AOR 1.752, 1.241-2.474). The higher-husband-education comparison was inconclusive (AOR 0.612, 0.338-1.109). Estimates for cohabitation timing changed substantially after age adjustment. Mean held-out-PSU AUC was 0.793 and calibration slope was 0.885. An exploratory specification diagnostic indicated possible misspecification (p {approx} 0.0205).
ConclusionsCohabitation timing and spousal age gap were associated with childbearing or current pregnancy in the analysed population. Differences in time available for childbearing, selection into marriage, and interview-time measurement of covariates constrain interpretation. These findings do not estimate the effects of delaying marriage or implementing a policy. Regression estimates remain provisional because long-questionnaire weighting requires confirmation.
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BibTeX
@misc{khan2026cohabitation,
title = {{Cohabitation timing and childbearing or current pregnancy among married adolescents in Bangladesh: a complex-survey analysis of the 2022 BDHS}},
author = {M. I. H. Khan and I. Jahan and M. A. Islam and R. Dalpatadu and M. Karim},
howpublished = {medRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.64898/2026.07.21.26358612},
url = {https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.21.26358612v3},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Cohabitation timing and childbearing or current pregnancy among married adolescents in Bangladesh: a complex-survey analysis of the 2022 BDHS
AU - M. I. H. Khan
AU - I. Jahan
AU - M. A. Islam
AU - R. Dalpatadu
AU - M. Karim
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/21
PB - medRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.07.21.26358612
UR - https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.21.26358612v3
AB - ObjectivesTo describe the prevalence of having had a live birth or being currently pregnant among ever-married adolescents in Bangladesh and examine its associations with cohabitation timing and partner characteristics among currently married adolescents. DesignCross-sectional secondary analysis of the 2022 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS). MethodsDescriptive estimates used 2,449 ever-married respondents aged 15-19. The long questionnaire was administered to 1,635; 1,603 were currently married, of whom 1,601 had complete information for the regression. Weighted logistic regression included current age, respondent education, five wealth quintiles, cohabitation age, husband education, signed spousal age gap, residence and division. Sampling weights, strata and primary sampling units were incorporated using a stratified cluster-based Taylor variance estimator. Current working status was evaluated in a sensitivity model. An asset-based principal component was examined separately as an exploratory sensitivity analysis. ResultsAmong ever-married adolescents, weighted outcome prevalence was 59.7% (95% confidence interval [CI] 57.6-61.7). In the expanded model, cohabitation at ages 15-17 and 18-19, relative to below 15, was associated with lower odds (adjusted odds ratios [AORs] 0.170, 95% CI 0.113-0.256; and 0.026, 0.015-0.045). A signed spousal age gap of at least 11 years, versus at most five years, was associated with higher odds (AOR 1.752, 1.241-2.474). The higher-husband-education comparison was inconclusive (AOR 0.612, 0.338-1.109). Estimates for cohabitation timing changed substantially after age adjustment. Mean held-out-PSU AUC was 0.793 and calibration slope was 0.885. An exploratory specification diagnostic indicated possible misspecification (p {approx} 0.0205). ConclusionsCohabitation timing and spousal age gap were associated with childbearing or current pregnancy in the analysed population. Differences in time available for childbearing, selection into marriage, and interview-time measurement of covariates constrain interpretation. These findings do not estimate the effects of delaying marriage or implementing a policy. Regression estimates remain provisional because long-questionnaire weighting requires confirmation.
ER -