Objective: In many developing countries early age marriage is associated with early age pregnancy resulting in mortality and morbidity of mothers and babies. Early marriage before age 18 is common practice in India, more in certain states than others. Uttar Pradesh is one state where early marriage is very common. This study aimed to identify factors that predicted the early marriage of girls from urban slums of Allahabad, which is the sixth largest city in Uttar Pradesh and one of the poorest states. Methods: As one component of a community intervention, young women aged 14 to 19 were interviewed in household surveys conducted in poor urban localities. Interviews were completed with 1351 adolescent girls. Data allowed us to calculate the cumulative proportion of girls marrying before the legal age of marriage: age 18 for girls. Results: Pace of marriage was 16.8 percent girls. Multivariate cox regression was used to identify protective factors that helped girls survive the event of marriage. Significant predictors of a younger age marriage of girls included lack of high school education, parent’s low education, not living with both parents and higher restrictions on mobility after controlling for other influences. Conclusions: Encouraging high school or higher education of girls, skills for negotiating access to education and attitudes preferring late age marriage should each be investigated as possible intervention targets preventing early age marriage of girls in India.

Keywords: Early Marriage; Social Skills; Self-esteem.