Age at menarche, education, and child marriage among young wives in rural Maharashtra, India

India is home to 33% of the 720 million women worldwide who were married before the age of 18 years [1]. Menarche has historically been viewed as an indicator of a girl’s readiness to marry [2], but recent research on this issue is limited. The present study examined associations between age at menarche and age at marriage among young wives who were baseline respondents in the CHARM study—a two-armed randomized controlled trial evaluating a male engagement-focused family planning intervention in rural Maharashtra, India.