Ethiopia has recently seen a remarkable fall in the proportion of girls who marry in early adolescence, reflecting the country’s lauded efforts to tackle child marriage. However, aggregate national figures mask a more complex reality. This article explores this complexity, drawing on qualitative data with adolescent girls and boys, their caregivers, service providers and community leaders, from the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) longitudinal study baseline. Our findings highlight the complex interplay between cultural norms, economic factors, individual voice and agency, and collective support thereof, on the part of leaders and service providers, from grassroots to national levels.
Nicola Jones, Elizabeth Presler-Marshall, Guday Kassahun et al.
Child marriage is a well-recognized barrier to education, and exposes girls to an increased risk of violence along with other negative health and developmental outcomes. A quantitative survey was conducted with girls selected from 14 communities in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Data from 350 girls (ages 13-14) were analyzed using mixed effects logistic regression models. Findings revealed that child marriage was associated with lower levels of participation in formal education as well as higher rates of physical, sexual and emotional violence. In particular, when adjusting for age and girls’ level of participation in formal education, being married was associated with more than a three-fold (OR: 3.23) increased risk of experiencing sexual violence (p<0.001). Married girls were also significantly more likely to affirm the belief that they would be forced to marry their perpetrator in the event that they were raped (p=0.017), suggesting that a portion of girls within this sample may have experienced this occurrence. Although higher levels of participation in formal education were associated with a reduced risk of violence among non-married girls, these differences were not observed for girls who were married. Findings reveal that child marriage has a significantly negative effect on the relationship between girls’ level of participation in formal education and experiences with violence. Taken cumulatively, findings from this study suggest an overall harmful relationship between child marriage and girls’ safety, education and well-being, and that efforts to prevent its occurrence in the DRC and beyond are urgently needed.
Debbie Landis, Kathryn Falb, Ilaria Michelis et al.
Introduction: Early marriage is a persistent public health problem with intergenerational consequences for adolescents, mothers, and children. Because knowledge is a modifiable determinant of health behavior, school-based education may strengthen adolescents’ understanding of early marriage, parenting readiness, and child health risks. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of a school-based early marriage education session on adolescents’ short-term knowledge of early marriage, parenting readiness, and child health consequences. Method: The study used a quasi-experimental one-group pre-test–post-test design involving 89 adolescents at Christian Vocational High Schools and State Islamic Senior High Schools Model Palangka Raya in 2025. A single educational session was delivered using interactive presentations and discussion. Knowledge was measured before and after the intervention using the same structured questionnaire, and paired comparisons were analyzed with the Wilcoxon test. Results: Knowledge improved significantly after the intervention (p < 0.001). Post-test findings showed a clear shift toward the good and very good categories for knowledge about early marriage, parenting readiness, and the child health consequences of early marriage. Conclusion: A brief school-based educational intervention was effective in improving adolescents’ short-term knowledge. The findings support integrating early marriage education into school health programs while highlighting the need for controlled studies with follow-up to assess persistence of knowledge gains and behavioral relevance.
Adelgrit Trisia, Dian Mutiasari, Lia Sasmithae et al.
Child marriage under the age of 18 is considered as a criminal offence and a violation of the state’s constitutional law. Most of the time child marriage occurs in Bangladesh due to poverty and lack of awareness of its consequence. In Islam, it is strongly discouraged to arrange the marriage of girls without taking their full consent. However, this paper explores the present scenario of cultural practices of child marriage occurring in Bangladesh. The study will also focus on highlighting the major causes that led to child marriage under the age of puberty. The paper will also highlight the states’ constitutional law on child marriage and their jurisdiction over the issue. The current study adopts qualitative methods to meet its objectives through investigating existing available literature related to the issue concerned. The study finds that child marriage often occurs due to high-rate poverty, normative thoughts about the position of girls, high rate of uneducated parents and lack of strict implementation of constitutional law on those who are involved such kind of act in the family and in society. The study also finds through its discussion that due to early marriage young couples go through certain serious issues which affect their life crucially, i.e., psychological trauma, reproductive health issues, increasing domestic violence and increasing illiteracy rates in the family and in society. Finally, the present study will analyze how to prevent child marriage based on the Islamic teachings set by the Qur’an and Sunnah
Muhammad Faizul Haque, Sumaiya Islam, Mst. Rikta Banu
I recently did a media interview related to an earlier CABL commentary (Walters, 2018) focused on the underdiagnosis of ADHD in girls, prompting me to look at the recent research on the topic. Interestingly, the journalist I spoke with shared an article that noted the rising numbers of women ages 23–29 years and 30–34 years diagnosed with ADHD. Although still a relatively small percentage compared to female children, this percentage has almost doubled from 2020–2022 (Russell et al., 2023). In addition, the percentage of males versus females of any age diagnosed with ADHD increased from males being 133% more likely to be diagnosed in 2010 to females 28% more likely in 2022 (Russell et al., 2023).
It is estimated that half to three‐quarters of all women with attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are undiagnosed. Boys are more likely to be given an ADHD diagnosis (13.2%) than girls (5.6%). Girls are also diagnosed, on average, 5 years later than boys (boys at age 7, girls at age 12) (Foley, 2018).
Pernikahan anak secara luas diakui sebagai pelanggaran hak anak, namun remaja di banyak daerah pedesaan tetap sangat rentan. Data dari Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS) Indonesia dalam “Laporan Statistik Pemuda Indonesia” 2024 menunjukkan bahwa 21,49% anak muda di Indonesia menikah pada usia 18 tahun atau lebih muda, 18,55% menikah dalam kelompok usia 16-18 tahun, sedangkan 2,39% menikah sebelum usia 16 tahun. Meskipun penelitian global telah dilakukan secara ekstensif, bukti empiris tentang pengalaman hidup remaja putri di pedesaan Indonesia, khususnya di Jawa Barat, masih terbatas. Studi ini mengeksplorasi pengalaman remaja putri yang terdampak pernikahan anak di Desa Sukaharja, Sariwangi, Tasikmalaya, Indonesia. Dengan menggunakan desain deskriptif kualitatif, data dikumpulkan melalui wawancara mendalam, observasi partisipan, dan tinjauan dokumen. Lima remaja putri yang dipilih secara purposif, yang semuanya telah menjalani pernikahan agama yang tidak terdaftar, berperan sebagai informan kunci. Data dianalisis secara tematik untuk mengidentifikasi pola dan wawasan utama. Temuan menunjukkan bahwa perkawinan anak terkait dengan kerentanan sosial ekonomi dan rendahnya pencapaian pendidikan, yang dipicu oleh kehamilan di luar nikah, rasa malu sosial, dan sanksi adat. Konsekuensinya meliputi putus sekolah, kurangnya sertifikasi formal, pengucilan sosial, dan masa depan yang tidak pasti. Persepsi masyarakat bervariasi, dipengaruhi oleh adat istiadat setempat, media sosial, dan pendidikan kesehatan reproduksi yang terbatas. Temuan ini menyoroti perlunya intervensi terkoordinasi, termasuk penyebaran Undang-Undang No. 16/2019, pembentukan forum perlindungan anak, dan pengembangan inisiatif desa ramah anak, yang menyediakan strategi berbasis bukti untuk melindungi remaja di pedesaan Indonesia.
Bambang Rustanto, Tuti Kartika, Aryohaji Istyawan et al.
Abstract Background Child marriage is a violation of children’s rights and it exposes them to social isolation and psychological damages. These negative effects are not limited to them and expands to the family and society as well. The present research aimed at determining the knowledge and viewpoint of adolescent girls regarding child marriage, its causes and consequences in the city of Tabriz-Iran, in 2020–2021. Methods This cross-sectional study was carried out on 300 adolescent girls who had records in the health centers in the city of Tabriz. The data were collected using the sociodemographic characteristics questionnaire, questionnaire of knowledge, and view of adolescent girls regarding child marriage, and its causes and consequences. The multivariate logistic regression model with adjusting the sociodemographic characteristics was used to determine the relationship between the viewpoint of adolescent girls about child marriage and their knowledge in this regard. Results The mean (SD) knowledge about child marriage was 6.70 (3.09) (score range: 0–11). The majority of the girls (85.4%) were against marriage before the age of 18 and only 16 girls (5.1%) of them agreed with marriage before the age of 18. Investigating the viewpoint of adolescent girls regarding the causes of child marriage revealed that the important issue leading to reduction of child marriage can be “intellectual, emotional, social, and economic maturity of girls plus their physical puberty (92.4% agree), increase in the girls’ education (79% agree) and increasing girls’ awareness regarding the consequences of early marriage in schools and media (69.6% agree). Illiteracy or lack of education of parents (64% agree), meeting the emotional needs (59.3% agree), family problems and conflicts (59.6% agree), and lack of exhilaration in daily life, especially in the rural regions and suburbs (58.3% agree) were among the reasons of increase of child marriage. The most important consequence of child marriage from the viewpoint of the girls is deprivation from the chance of education. The results of multivariate logistic regression model by adjusting the possible confounding variables, showed that girls who believed the appropriate age for marriage is under 20 were almost 13 times more likely to agree with child marriage than girls who believed the appropriate age for marriage is over 20 years (aOR = 13.82; 95% Cl 2.61–71.16 p = 0.002) and girls who opposed their parents’ decision to marry under the age of 18 were less likely to agree with the child marriage than girls who did not oppose their decision (aOR = 0.09; 95% Cl 0.01–0.63 p = 0.016). Conclusions The results revealed a good level of knowledge and negative attitude to child marriage among the girls. The girls who disagreed with child marriage were more knowledgeable than the girls who agreed with child marriage. Thus, the increase of the level of knowledge of girls and their families regarding the consequences of early marriage and developing the culture for correcting the cultural beliefs and wrong social beliefs to prevent child marriage can decrease this damage to a great extent.
Somayyeh Naghizadeh, Mojgan Mirghafourvand, Azam Mohammadi et al.
In Indonesia, marriage age reform has been implemented by raising the minimum age limit to 19 years as an effort to prevent child marriage. However, in practice, this reform faces dispensations that were initially designed as emergency exceptions but have instead become the primary mechanism of implementation, normalising exceptions and shifting the logic of protection to procedural compliance. This article analyses the transformation of these dispensations and their implications for girls' reproductive health rights at the grassroots level. Using a qualitative juridical-empirical approach with a case study in Nyawangan Village, Tulungagung, data were collected through interviews with KUA officers, health workers, and village officials, as well as observations and document reviews. Framed by the Effectiveness of Law theory, the article reveals that dispensations operate as the practical face of reform through routine administrative processes, driven by social, economic, and institutional pressures, with minimal substantive intervention. As a result, considerations of reproductive health and the psychosocial readiness of girls are often overlooked, creating a gap between procedural legality and substantive protection. This article recommends reinstating dispensations as high-threshold exceptions, subject to strict evidentiary standards, standardised health assessments, and cross-institutional coordination focused on delaying marriage. The implication is that marriage-age reform must be firmly embedded at the normative level and supported by governance that truly centres on the best interests of girls.
Child marriage impacts the low quality of the family, both viewed from the unpreparedness psychologically in facing social issues and household economics. It also triggers the occurrence of domestic violence. To analyze the factors that influence child marriage among female adolescents in South Bengkulu Regency. This research is quantitative research using a cross-sectional research design, data were collected using questionnaires from 286 respondents with accidental sampling technique. Data analysis was carried out with univariate analysis, bivariate using the Chi-Square test and multivariate using linear logistic regression test. Research Results: Education has a significant effect on child marriage in South Bengkulu Regency with p-value 0.000 <0.05 and chi square 286 > 5.99. Economic status has a significant effect on child marriage in South Bengkulu Regency with p-value 0.020 <0.05 and chi square 207.2 > 5.99. Knowledge has a significant effect on child marriage in South Bengkulu Regency with p-value 0.004 <0.05 and chi square 149 > 5.99. Parenting style has a significant effect on child marriage in South Bengkulu Regency with p-value 0.025 <0.05 and chi square 221.4 > 3.84. The most dominant factor influencing child marriage in South Bengkulu Regency is the education factor with the highest coefficient value (B) of 2.690 and p-value 0.000 <0.05. It is advisable to provide counseling to adolescent children, especially at the secondary school level, so they are not tempted to enter into early marriage so that these children obtain good information about the impacts of child marriage.
Yeti Indarni, Susilawaty Susilawaty, Tuti Rohani et al.
