Peer-reviewed article
Drivers of Child Marriages among Girls: A Sociological Study in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Muhammad Sadiq, Hussain Rasheed Ali, Qaiser Khalid Mahmood ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined the social and cultural factors driving child marriage among girls in Dir Lower district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. Researchers surveyed 384 married women aged 15-49 years using a cross-sectional design. The findings show that family elders are key decision-makers in arranging child marriages, and that Pakhtunwali, a traditional code of conduct, normalizes this practice within Pakhtun society. The study recommends community and school-based behaviour change programmes to prevent child marriage.
Key points
- Pakistan has nearly 19 million child brides, with 18.7% of women aged 18-22 marrying as children
- Family elders are the key decision-makers in arranging girl child marriages (r=0.202, p=0.001)
- Pakhtunwali, a traditional code of life, regularizes and normalizes girl child marriage in Pakhtun society (r=0.204, p=0.001)
- Girl child marriage is socially approved despite being recognized as a harmful practice
- Behaviour change programmes at community and school levels are recommended to prevent child marriage
Limitations
This study describes correlations between social factors and child marriage but does not evaluate the effectiveness of any intervention. The cross-sectional design cannot establish causality or provide evidence on what works to prevent child marriage.
Abstract
Pakistan is the home to nearly 19 million child brides today. Statistics show that 18.7% of women aged 18-22 marry as children in the country. It is argued that social and cultural factors are the leading factors behind girl child marriages in rural settings in Pakistan. This study investigates the social and cultural factors as causes of girl child marriages in district Dir Lower, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province of Pakistan. A cross-sectional research design was applied to conduct a household survey of women respondents aged 15-49 years. The researchers used a questionnaire as data collection tool, and a sample of 384 married women was selected. The researchers took informed consent from all the respondents, and female research assistants were engaged to collect data from women in traditional cultural settings. Descriptive statistics were used to explain the dependent and independent variables, while a Pearson correlation test was applied to draw the correlation of girl child marriage and social factors as drivers of girl early marriage in the study locale. The results explained that girl child marriage is a harmful practice which is socially approved. It is also explained that family elders are the key decision makers of girl child marriage in their family (r = .202, p value 0.001). It is also explained that Pakhtunwali is considered a code of life where girl child marriage is regularised in the social structure of Pakhtun society (r=204, P. value 0.001). The research study recommends a behavioural change programme at the community and school levels to prevent girl child marriage in the country.