Title: Age at First Marriage and Women’s Psychosocial Wellbeing in the Amhara Region,
Ethiopia
Version: 7 Date: 03 Apr 2025
Reviewer's report:
PEER REVIEWER ASSESSMENTS:
OBJECTIVE - Full research articles: is there a clear objective that addresses one or several
testable research questions? (Brief or other article types: is there a clear objective?)
Yes - there is a clear objective
DESIGN - Is the current approach (including controls and analysis protocols) appropriate for
the objective?
Yes - the approach is appropriate
EXECUTION - Are the experiments and analyses performed with sufficient technical rigor to
allow confidence in the results?
Yes - experiments and analyses were performed appropriately
STATISTICS - Is the use of statistics in the manuscript appropriate?
Yes - appropriate statistical analyses have been used in the study
INTERPRETATION - Is the current interpretation/discussion of the results reasonable and not
overstated?
Yes - the author's interpretation is reasonable
OVERALL MANUSCRIPT POTENTIAL - Has the author addressed your concerns sufficiently
for you to now recommend the work as a technically sound contribution? If not, can further
revisions be made to make the work technically sound?
Probably - with minor revisions
PEER REVIEWER COMMENTS:
GENERAL COMMENTS: The authors have addressed most concerns raised in the last review
round. However, the few revisions included in the current review should be given further
attention.
ADDITIONAL REQUESTS/SUGGESTIONS:
Lines 288-299: The analysis section in the method section should be expanded by providing
detailed information about the data management and analysis conducted throughout this research
endeavor. As previously suggested, the models' assumptions (What tests were conducted
to ensure these assumptions were not violated?) should be provided and all the diagnostic
mechanisms involved before selecting the model for the analysis should be included e.g., the
linearity test. Some of these concerns have been addressed in the results section e.g., test for
multicollinearity. The authors are advised to move such information to the methods section.
Line 207: Change the subheading ‘Measures’ to ‘Data collection tool’
The conceptual framework: The independent and intervening variables should be appropriately
positioned. For instance, how can the age at first marriage influence birthplace? Also, age at
first marriage cannot influence the age of the first husband. This should have been in reverse
order. The age of the first husband and the age at first marriage were used to create the new
variable, the ‘age gap with the first husband’. Consequently, the ‘age of the first husband’ and
the ‘age gap with the first husband’ cannot appear as intervening variables. While the age of
the first husband should be an independent variable, the age gap with the first husband should
be treated as an intervening variable. Additionally, age at first marriage cannot determine the
place of residence, the place of residence can be shifted to the independent variables’ box. The
authors should check the correct location of all the variables to avoid misconceptions about the
direction of the relationship between the variables. Therefore, it is advised that the authors make
the necessary adjustments.