Abstract Background Early marriage, although it remains a common practice in sub-Saharan Africa, has detrimental effects on women’s sexual and reproductive health, social networks, and educational attainment. We sought to investigate the association between attitudes towards early marriage and marital status among adolescent girls in Ethiopia. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 3,013 adolescent girls aged 13-17 years of age, living in four districts of the Oromia region of Ethiopia. Sociodemographic characteristics and were participants’ attitudes towards early marriage were measured using a pre-tested structured questionnaire. Results The prevalence of early marriage among adolescent girls was 8.3% and approximately 87.0% of girls had an overall positive attitude towards early marriage. Compared to adolescent girls who were unmarried, those who were married or living with a partner were less likely to believe they should have a say whether they want to marry or not (OR=0.32; 95%CI: 0.18-0.57), believe they should get to decide when to marry (OR=0.52; 0.31-0.88), and believe they should have the final decision over the decision to marry (OR=0.48; 0.32-0.73). Conclusions Interventions to prevent early marriage should strengthen women decision-making processes and promote women’s agency.
Introduction: Teenage childbearing increases the risk of adverse physical and mental health outcomes. According to NFHS-5, 7% of women aged 15–19 in India have begun childbearing, including 5% who have had a live birth and 2% who are pregnant with their first child. Child marriage remains common in several northern Indian states and is a major driver of early and high-risk fertility. Consanguineous marriage, prevalent in parts of India, may further increase reproductive risks. This study examines the individual and combined effects of consanguineous marriage, child marriage, and teenage pregnancy on child loss among adolescent women in India.Method: Data were drawn from NFHS-5 for women aged 15–19 years. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests assessed associations between key predictors and child loss. Univariate and bivariate analyses, followed by binary logistic regression, estimated the independent and combined effects of consanguinity, age at marriage, and teenage pregnancy.Results: Consanguineous marriage and child marriage were associated with an increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes, while their combined effect further increased the probability of first-child death. The overall model was statistically significant (χ²(5,5462) = 25.278, p < 0.01). Women who married at age 18 or older had 1.2 times higher odds of having a living child than women who experienced child marriage.Conclusion: Consanguineous marriage and child marriage significantly increase the risk of child loss among adolescent mothers in India. Interventions should focus on improving education, reducing poverty, delaying marriage, and increasing awareness of the reproductive risks associated with consanguinity and early pregnancy.
Background. Safe Spaces interventions are mentor-led regular group meetings facilitated in a designated space or location, widely used across Africa to support health and well-being of adolescent girls and young women (AGYW). However, there is substantial variation in their intervention design, delivery, and outcomes. Methods. We conducted a scoping review of studies quantitatively reporting at least one of three outcomes of Safe Spaces interventions targeting AGYW aged 10-24 years in Africa: child marriage, adolescent pregnancy, and school enrolment. Data were extracted on study characteristics, participant populations, intervention components, delivery approaches, and outcomes. Findings were synthesised descriptively using narrative summaries, tables, and figures. Findings. Thirty-eight intervention studies (from 51 publications) were included. Studies were conducted across 19 African countries. Interventions were predominantly multi-component, with almost half (47%) evaluating three or more intervention arms. Common intervention components included: life skills and financial literacy training (37 studies), enabling environment activities (22 studies), financial support (20 studies), and economic empowerment (18 studies). Most studies focused on 15-19-year-old adolescent girls. Considerable heterogeneity was observed in intervention design, delivery characteristics, and outcomes assessed, and most studies did not report age-disaggregated findings (e.g., younger versus older adolescents). Interpretation. The evidence base on Safe Spaces interventions in Africa is substantial and highly heterogeneous. Strengthening the comparability of research design, consistency of reporting, and increasing geographical spread remain important for advancing the evidence base on the usefulness and applicability of Safe Spaces interventions in policy and practice in Africa.
Mandy Phuti, Pertina Nyamukondiwa, Silinganisiwe Padline Dzumbunu et al.
Demographic factors have long been suspected to relate to perfectionist traits in adolescents. A broad epidemiological sample conducted in Norway, based on self‐reports, found that scores of perfectionism did not differ by gender or age, although girls were more prone to score highly on overall perfectionism, self‐oriented perfection (SOP), and socially prescribed perfections (SPP). than boys. Perceived economic well‐being was associated with high perfectionism. Parental education was not a significant factor in the perfectionist traits of teens.
Objectives Harmful gender and social norms prescribe divergent opportunities for girls and boys and drive child marriage. This systematic review examines the scope, range and effectiveness of interventions to change social norms and delay child marriage. Design We systematically assess the contributions made by interventions that work to shift norms to prevent child marriage or to limit its harmful consequences. Our analysis classifies each study’s quality in evaluation and implementation design regarding shifting norms. Data sources We conducted a search of electronic databases (PubMed, PsycINFO, Embase, CINAHL Plus, Popline, Web of Science and Cochrane Library) and grey literature (targeted hand-searches of 15 key organisations and Google Scholar). Eligibility criteria Included interventions sought to change norms related to child marriage, were evaluated in experimental or quasi-experimental evaluations, collected data on age at marriage and norms/attitudes, and were published in English from January 2000 to September 2021. Data extraction and synthesis We used a standardised form to extract data from all eligible studies, and double-screened to validate coding and reporting. We classified the studies by low, medium and high quality for evaluation and risk of bias, and separately by the extent to which they addressed social norms. Results Our assessment of the 12 eligible studies identified revealed little evidence of a systematic relationship between social norms related to marriage and changes in child marriage behaviours. We found stronger evidence of programme effect on child marriage outcomes than on social norms, though only a minority of studies found an effect for either. Studies that appeared effective in changing child marriage norms varied greatly in scale and extent of programming, and few attempted to identify the appropriate reference groups for measuring social norms. Conclusion The studies evaluated by our review provide only weak evidence on the impact of interventions on norms, and on the link between shifts in norms and marriage behaviour.
Margaret E. Greene, Jeffrey Edmeades, Manahil Siddiqi
This study intended to investigate the situation of economic, education, culture and attitude of ethnic adolescent girls, parents, local customary law leaders and village authorities toward early marriage among Hmong and Khmu ethnic groups in Xiengnguen District, Luang Prabang Province, Data and information were collected via semi-structured interviews questionnaires, by using purposive sampling targeted a total of 44 samplings. The quantitative data were analyzed by using Microsoft Excel and SPSS program in percentage and the qualitative information was consolidated from all responses. The key findings revealed that most adolescent girls viewed early marriage as a way to pursue independence and a better life. Anyhow, getting marriage at young age has tendency to have many children, put girls’ health at risks and trapped in poverty. evidence indicated that all ethnic adolescent girls in the two target villages relied on doing farming, their average annual income was approximately 27 million Lao Kip and was insufficient for the basic needs, In summary, parents, customary leaders, and village authorities strongly reject early marriage notion, viewing it as an inappropriate practice that fails to preserve cultural tradition. Moreover, it was not aligned with with Lao PDR legal frameworks, the findings also highlighted that early marriage imposes significant burdens to the family and put substantial anxiety for both parents and parent-in laws.
The subject of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis in girls has become an important area of clinical and research focus. For years, the male:female ratio of ASD has been estimated as approximately 4:1, with affected girls historically presenting with a higher likelihood of significant intellectual impairments. Clinicians and researchers have increasingly questioned this ratio, with findings indicating that girls with average or higher intellectual and/or verbal functioning have a different phenotype than males affected with ASD.
AbstractChild marriage, specifically the marriage of underage girls, is a crucial social problem that cuts across religions and cultures and can be considered as violence against children and women. Currently, the media is one of the strongest public spheres to combat this problem apart from national and international laws and agreements. This study aims to analyse how the child marriage problem is represented in the Turkish print media within the framework of feminist theory. The analysis is based on 246 news reports related to child marriages. The study found that even though the issue has been identified as a problem in the Turkish print media, it has not come to the forefront. Rather, the newspapers have normalized the issue of underage marriage, especially through the use of language.
The discourse of child marriage in relation to the lives of the girls in Indonesia specifically and the Global South generally is often limited to describing their vulnerability and position as victims. Practices of child marriage are inseparable from its exploitative and harmful nature. This paper, however, shows that the discourse of child marriage produced in humanitarian projects and interventions often avoids the complexity and diversity of the practices and the lives of the girls and reduces the problem into monolithic narrative of their communities’ traditions, backwardness, and inherent gender inequality. This paper asks: How has the discourse of child marriage in relation to Indonesian girls developed historically? How have international NGOs depicted the issue of child marriage? We show that child marriage discourse is historically rooted in colonial ideas surrounding modernity, childhood, and marriage, and that documents published by international NGOs tend to flatten the complex experiences and lives of Indonesian girls.
Early marriage encourages various problems for young women. The problems would be affecting their psychological conditions including depression. This study aimed to describe the depression in adolescent girls with early marriage in Babakan Ciparay District, Bandung City. This study was conducted using the descriptive explorative method, with a cross-sectional approach. Samples were selected using the total sampling technique, in which 76 young women aged 16-19 years involved in this study. This study used an instrument from the Indonesian version of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) questionnaire with validity values at 0.361-0.773 and the value of Cronbach's alpha is 0.898, and several additional questions related to the problems experienced by girls who married early. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistical analysis techniques for quantitative data and content analysis for interview data. This study was held in the range of April - May 2019. The results showed that 68.4% of respondents were at a minimum level of depression or did not experience depression, 11.8% had mild depression, 10.5% had moderate depression and 9.2% had severe depression. It can be concluded that the young women did not experience depression, because most respondents married with own desires, lived separately from their parents-in-law and did not experience domestic violence. However, there were still some respondents who are depressed or have the potential to experience depression due to economic problem, problems with in-laws, problems with their husbands and problems related to family relationships. Therefore, there is a need for education about stress management and counseling program to improve the mental health of girls who married early.Keywords: adolescent girl, depression, early marriage
Lia Yuliana Rachman, Efri Widianti, Anita Setyawati
