Peer-reviewed article
Interventions to Address the Health and Well-Being of Married Adolescents: A Systematic Review.
Siddiqi M, Greene ME, Stoppel A, Allegar C ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This systematic review examined 29 intervention studies designed to support the health and well-being of adolescents who are already married. Most interventions focused on sexual and reproductive health and maternal health, but were small in scale and geographically concentrated. The review found that married girls need better support in education and economic opportunities, and that efforts should also focus on promoting equitable relationships and involving men and boys in solutions.
Key points
- 29 intervention studies were included in the systematic review
- Most programs focused on sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and maternal health
- Interventions occur at small scale and are geographically concentrated
- There is a gap in programs addressing educational and economic outcomes for married girls
- More efforts needed to support equitable marital relations and engage men and boys
Limitations
The review does not provide details on the specific geographic locations, populations, or methodological quality of individual studies included. It does not report quantitative effectiveness outcomes or compare the relative success of different intervention types.
Abstract
Child marriage, defined by the United Nations as marriage before the age of 18 years, is a widespread practice with serious health and social consequences. We systematically reviewed academic and gray literature to learn what is known about the current state of the evidence for interventions to respond to the needs of married adolescents. Our analysis of the 29 included intervention studies identified variability across sectors, with most programs focusing on sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and maternal health. We found that interventions occur mostly at a small scale, are geographically concentrated, and focus on SRH to the neglect of other sectors. There is a need for programs to focus on improving educational and economic outcomes among married girls, as well as increased efforts to support equitable marital relations and engage men and boys. The emphasis on preventing child marriage must be matched by efforts to mitigate and respond to the practice.