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Demographic and Health Survey Phase 8 (DHS-8): Marriage and Cohabitation

The Demographic and Health Survey Phase 8 (DHS-8): Marriage and Cohabitation includes 7 items from the Women's Questionnaire measuring a woman's marital or cohabitation history, current marital status or living arrangements, and the age when marriage/cohabitation first began. Navigational aspects (i.e. skip-out patterns and next question sequences) have not been included on this page but can be viewed on the original questionnaire located here.

Categories

Geographies Tested: Afghanistan,Angola,Burkina Faso,Cambodia,Cameroon,Cote d'Ivoire,Ethiopia,Ghana,Guatemala,Guinea,Kenya,Madagascar,Mozambique,Myanmar (Burma),Nepal,Rwanda,Senegal,The Gambia,Zimbabwe

Populations Included: Female

Age Range: Adolescents, Adults

Items:

 1. Are you currently married or living together with a man as if married?

Response Options:
Yes, currently married
Yes, living with a man
No, not in union

 2. Have you ever been married or lived together with a man as if married?

Response Options:
Yes, formerly married
Yes, lived with a man
No

 3. What is your marital status now: are you widowed, divorced, or separated?

Response Options:
Widowed
Divorced
Separated

 4. Is your (husbandpartner) living with you now or is he staying elsewhere?

Response Options:
Living with her
Staying elsewhere

 5. Have you been married or lived with a man only once or more than once?

Response Options:
Only once
More than once

 6. Now I would like to ask about your first (husbandpartner). In what month and year did you start living with him?

Response Options:
2-digit numeric value (_Month)
Don’t know month
4-digit numeric value (_Year)
Don’t know year

 7. How old were you when you first started living with your current (husbandpartner)?

Response Options:
2-digit numeric value (_Years)

Scoring Procedures

Not Applicable

Original Citation

Demographic and Health Surveys (2019). Demographic and Health Surveys: Women's Questionnaire. https://dhsprogram.com/publications/publication-DHSQ8-DHS-Questionnaires-and-Manuals.cfm


Psychometric Score

Ease of Use Score

Scoring breakdown

Formative Research

Qualitative Research

Existing Literature/Theoretical Framework

Field Expert Input

Cognitive Interviews / Pilot Testing

Reliability

Internal

Test-retest

Interrater

Validity

Content

Face

Criterion (gold-standard)

Construct

KEY

Ease of Use

Readability

Scoring Clarity

Length

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