Effects of education on age at first birth in Kenya

Abstract

Education is a significant factor in influencing the onset of childbearing by women. This study examined the effects of education levels on the timing of the first birth in Kenya using data from the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey of2003. This was a nationally representative survey that collected data on fertility and education from sample size of 8195 women all over the country. Age at first birth measured in completed years was the dependent variable for this study while the independent variable was the level of education categorized into three categories namely, no education, primary and secondary and above levels. Type of place of residence, ethnicity, religion, and region, age at first marriage and age at first sexual intercourse were used as control variables and operationalised using the Bogaarts framework of 1978. The life table approach was used to estimate median age at first birth among women by levels of education. On the other hand the estimation of the risk of a woman experiencing a first birth given her background characteristics was carried out using Cox Proportional Hazard Model. The results of the lifetable show that women with higher levels of education have higher median age compared to women with no education. The analysis using Cox Regression show that education is a significant factor in reducing the risk a first birth even in the presence of the other factors which served as controls in this study. Education especially secondary education remained a key factor in determining the risk of experiencing a first birth among women in Kenya. Interesting result was that catholic women were found to have a higher median age at first birth compared to women belonging to other religions. Similarly, Catholic women were found to have a lower risk of having a first birth compared to women belonging to other religions. In addition, women belonging to Somali ethnic group found to be less likely to experience early age at first birth compared to the Kikuyu women. The study recommends further research to establish why catholic women had a higher median at first birth and low risk of having a first birth. The study further recommends that more efforts to provide education should be made in order to ensure that girls achieve at least secondary and above levels of education. This may necessitate full enforcement of the children's Act of 2001 to retain women in school to benefit from subsidized secondary education.