Peer-reviewed article
AB007. Adolescent elopement in child marriage contexts: counter-narratives of resistance, relief, and risk from Rohingya refugee youth in Malaysia
Zhen Ling Ong, Tharani Loganathan, Asma Zahir Ahmed, Joelle Mak, Cathy Zimmerman ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This qualitative study explored how Rohingya refugee adolescents in Malaysia use elopement and early marriage as ways to respond to poverty, family restrictions, and limited opportunities. Researchers interviewed 32 young people and compiled 58 accounts of elopement and child marriage. While adolescents sought autonomy and escape from hardship through these unions, most experienced severe financial difficulty, abuse, and family breakdown, leading many to regret the decision. The study highlights that expanding refugees' access to education, work, and legal status could reduce pressures for early marriage.
Key points
- Rohingya adolescents elope for reasons beyond victimhood: pursuit of love, escape from forced marriage, poverty relief, and autonomy against social restrictions
- Elopement typically begins with secret online partnerships in early adolescence, progresses rapidly to running away together, then often dissolves due to financial hardship and marital strain
- Many adolescents view their elopement as a 'mistake' after experiencing severe financial hardship, abuse, and family estrangement post-union
- Study reveals adolescents exercise constrained agency—making choices within structural limitations of refugee status, poverty, and restricted access to education and livelihoods
- Interventions should build on adolescents' strong preference for education and expand refugees' rights to stay, work, and study to provide viable alternatives to early marriage
Limitations
This qualitative study documents adolescent perspectives and experiences but cannot measure the prevalence of elopement or establish causal effects of specific interventions. The findings are specific to Rohingya refugee youth in Malaysia and may not generalise to other displaced or non-displaced populations.
Abstract
Background: Child marriage and early unions (CMEU) affect around 640 million girls worldwide. Global health narratives often frame CMEU as gender-based violence—family-driven and inherently harmful—linked to risky pregnancies, school dropout, and domestic violence. However, these discourses frequently overlook how adolescents assess their circumstances and exercise agency, particularly among forcibly displaced populations. This study, co-produced with stateless Rohingya refugee and asylum-seeking adolescents, examines how they use elopement to navigate adversity within a context of precarious legal status and restricted access to education and livelihoods in Malaysia.Methods: This qualitative study aimed to investigate the drivers, trajectories, and outcomes of elopement among Rohingya boys and girls (10–19 years) in Malaysia. Collaborating with refugee-led organizations and 13 Rohingya youth advisors, we conducted semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 32 participants. Fifty-eight accounts of elopement, child marriage, and dating were compiled and analyzed thematically.Results: Common reasons adolescents elope include: (I) pursuit of love against contested social norms; and (II) responses to adversity (e.g., poverty, family restrictions, forced marriage, or intimate partner violence from a first spouse). Elopement unfolded in three stages: (I) secret partnership formation, often facilitated by online interactions in early adolescence; (II) rapid progression to elopement; and (III) post-elopement outcomes, with many unions dissolving due to severe financial hardship, marital strain, abuse, and family estrangement—leaving adolescents viewing elopement as a “mistake”.Conclusions: This study broadens understandings of CMEU by highlighting the significant but structurally constrained role of adolescent agency. Rohingya adolescents use elopement to seek autonomy, love, safety, and relief from financial hardship, yet such choices often heighten vulnerability and introduce new protection risks. Findings suggest that interventions should build on adolescents’ strong preference for education. Policies expanding refugees’ right to stay, work, and study could reduce pressures to enter premature and precarious unions by creating viable alternatives.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Not an intervention evaluation; rather, a study of how adolescents naturally use elopement to navigate adversity and precarity
- Population
- 32 Rohingya refugee and asylum-seeking adolescents aged 10–19 years in Malaysia, with 58 compiled accounts of elopement, child marriage, and dating
Key finding
Adolescents pursue elopement for multiple reasons: love, escape from forced marriage, poverty relief, and autonomy—not solely victimhood