Peer-reviewed article
Child marriage in Ghana: evidence from a multi-method study
Babatunde Ahonsi, Kamil Fuseini, Dela Nai, Erika Goldson, Selina Owusu et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined child marriage in Ghana using survey data and interviews to identify its causes and risk factors. About one in five girls in the sample married as children. The research found that girls who never attended school were three times more likely to marry young, while girls from wealthier families were significantly less likely to marry as children. The study identified poverty, teenage pregnancy, and cultural practices like betrothal as key drivers of child marriage.
Key points
- 20.68% of girls in the quantitative sample married as children
- Girls with no school attendance were 3 times more likely to marry as children compared to those who attended school
- Girls in the highest wealth quintile were 68% less likely to marry as children than girls in the lowest quintile
- Identified drivers include poverty, teenage pregnancy, cultural betrothal practices, girl exchange for marriage, and pressure from family
- Recommendations include school retention, pregnancy prevention, economic empowerment, law enforcement, and culturally tailored advocacy programs
Limitations
The study is descriptive and identifies associations but does not test interventions to reduce child marriage. The qualitative data comes only from Central and Northern regions, which may not represent experiences across all of Ghana.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Child marriage remains a challenge in Ghana. Over the years, government and development partners have made various commitments and efforts to curb the phenomenon of child marriage. However, there is little empirical evidence on the predictors, norms and practices surrounding the practice to support their efforts, a gap this study sought to fill. METHODS: The study employed a multiple-method approach to achieve the set objectives. Data from the women's file of the 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS) was used to examine the predictors of child marriage using frequencies and logistic regression methods. Data from Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) collected in Central and Northern regions of Ghana were used to examine norms and practices surrounding child marriage using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Two in ten (20.68%) girls in the quantitative sample married as children. The results revealed that girls who had never attended school compared to those who had ever attended school were more likely to marry as children (OR, 3.01). Compared with girls in the lowest wealth quintile, girls in the middle (OR, 0.59), fourth (OR, 0.37) and highest (OR, 0.32) wealth quintiles were less likely to marry as children. From the qualitative data, the study identified poverty, teenage pregnancy, and cultural norms such as betrothal marriage, exchange of girls for marriage and pressure from significant others as the drivers of child marriage. CONCLUSIONS: The findings show that various socio-economic and cultural factors such as education, teenage pregnancy and poverty influence child marriage. Hence, efforts to curb child marriage should be geared towards retention of girls in school, curbing teenage pregnancy, empowering girls economically, enforcing laws on child marriage in Ghana, as well as designing tailored advocacy programs to educate key stakeholders and adolescent girls on the consequences of child marriage. Additionally, there is the need to address socio-cultural norms/practices to help end child marriage.