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Reporting Median Value for age at first amrriage and first sex in DHS [message #30271] Fri, 25 October 2024 07:19 Go to next message
Patty is currently offline  Patty
Messages: 2
Registered: October 2024
Member
Please i have two questions regarding how the median value is reported for some variables such as age at first marriage, age at first sex etc in the DHS country-specific reports:

(1) I realized that almost all country-specific DHS reports use the 25-49-year age group in determining the median age at first marriage and first sex. Is there any reason why the 25-49 year old age group is preferred please?

(2)Is it also appropriate to calculate the median age at first marriage using the entire woman of reproductive age(15-49 year age group)?

Thank you.
Re: Reporting Median Value for age at first amrriage and first sex in DHS [message #30302 is a reply to message #30271] Wed, 30 October 2024 15:42 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Janet-DHS is currently offline  Janet-DHS
Messages: 899
Registered: April 2022
Senior Member
Following is a response from DHS staff member, Tom Pullum:

The median age at marriage or at first sex can be calculated for age intervals that are completely above the median. In most DHS surveys, these medians happen before 25. Otherwise a higher age would have to be used.

The proportion of women married before their 18th birthday is another indicator for which the age range is important. It should only be calculated for women who are already age 18+, because they have had full exposure to the risk of marrying before 18.

Think about a different example. Say you wanted to calculate the median age at which women have their last child, that is, stop having children. You could not include in that calculation the women who are still having children, or haven't begun having children.
Re: Reporting Median Value for age at first amrriage and first sex in DHS [message #30304 is a reply to message #30271] Thu, 31 October 2024 07:09 Go to previous message
Patty is currently offline  Patty
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Registered: October 2024
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Thanks for the feedback, Janet. Much appreciated!
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