Cover: Age at menarche in Peninsular Malaysia: time trends, ethnic differentials, and association with ages at marriage and at first birth

Age at menarche in Peninsular Malaysia: time trends, ethnic differentials, and association with ages at marriage and at first birth

by Tan Boon Ann, Ramli Othman, William Butz, Julie DaVanzo

Purchase Print Copy

 FormatList Price Price
Add to Cart Paperback18 pages $20.00 $16.00 20% Web Discount

This paper reports the associations between the age at menarche of Malaysian girls and several family-level factors, using respondent-reported recall data from the 1976-1977 Malaysian Family Life Survey. These data are the first to document trends in age at menarche in Malaysia, before and during the period of rapid socioeconomic development. Using multiple regression technique, it was shown that age at menarche is a significant correlate of ages at first marriage and first birth and that inferences about the associations between socioeconomic correlates and age at marriage and at first birth can be biased if age at menarche is not controlled. Some important implications emerged: The average age at menarche declined between 1925 and 1960 and further declines can be expected. The falling ages at menarche might justify the introduction of family life education at earlier ages. This study illustrates further that long-term quality recall data can be useful for documenting average trends and differentials.

This report is part of the RAND Corporation Paper series. The paper was a product of the RAND Corporation from 1948 to 2003 that captured speeches, memorials, and derivative research, usually prepared on authors' own time and meant to be the scholarly or scientific contribution of individual authors to their professional fields. Papers were less formal than reports and did not require rigorous peer review.

This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited; linking directly to this product page is encouraged. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial purposes. For information on reprint and reuse permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.

The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.