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
Abstract Background Egypt has made progress in delaying age at marriage, but child marriage continues to be practiced in many places across the country. This study investigates the impacts of child marriage on the health and wellbeing of girls residing in urban Egypt using a multi-method approach. Methods The quantitative component leveraged data from the 2014 Egypt Demographic and Health Survey and focused on (1) reproductive health, (2) maternal health and (3) social outcomes among a subsample of ever-married urban women ages 20–24 (N = 1041). Simple and multivariable logistic regressions were used to estimate prevalence odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for associations between child marriage and the three sets of outcomes. The qualitative component drew from 11 focus groups, 23 in-depth interviews, and 13 key informant interviews conducted in three urban sites in Egypt. The data was thematically analyzed using a combination of inductive and deductive coding. Results The prevalence of marriage under age 18 was 13.22%. Child marriage was significantly associated with ever use of contraception (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) 2.95 95% CI 1.67–5.19), multiple births (AOR 12.93 95% CI 5.45–30.72), rapid repeat childbirth (AOR 2.20 95% CI 1.34–3.63), and pregnancy termination (AOR 1.89 95% CI 1.11–3.23). Many of these associations disappeared after adjusting for marriage duration. Girls married under age 18 had larger spousal age gaps (AOR 2.06; 95% CI 1.24–3.41) and higher odds of FGM (AOR 2.14; 95% CI 1.11–4.13). They were significantly more likely to report receiving no ANC care (AOR 0.39; 95% CI 0.19–0.80), and less likely to deliver through C-section (AOR: 0.53; 95% CI 0.34–0.83). Consequences emerging from the qualitative data centered around five themes: (1) Access to and use of sexual and reproductive health services; (2) exposure to FGM; (3) marriage and birth registration; (4) marital relations; and (5) relationship with in-laws. Conclusion Findings provide important insights into the practice of child marriage in urban areas in Egypt and illustrate a range of adverse consequences associated with the practice.
Shatha Elnakib, May Elsallab, Maha Abdel Wanis et al.
Introduction: Child marriage is a concerning issue associated with various health and social problems, including stress, suicide, despair, low self-esteem, family and social difficulties, limited job choices, financial dependence, and school dropout. Objectives: This study determined the relationship between marriage readiness cards and the improvement of adolescent knowledge in unraveling child marriages. Methods: The research utilized a cross-sectional design conducted at the adolescent health post within the Pantoloan Community Health Center's working area in July 2023. Purposive sampling involved 36 respondents, and data collection utilized a 10-question questionnaire. Univariate and bivariate analyses (Wilcoxon) were applied to the collected data, presented through tables and narrative descriptions. Results: The research findings indicated a significant improvement in adolescent knowledge after the intervention, as evidenced by a negative rank of 0 and a positive rank of 5, with a statistically significant p-value of 0.000. In conclusion, engaging educational media, such as marriage readiness cards, proved effective in enhancing respondents' knowledge. This study recommends community health centers to adopt educational media that capture adolescents' attention for more impactful health promotion initiatives.
Putri Mulia Sakti, Kadar Ramadhan, T. Iskandar Faisal
Child marriage—defined as a formal or informal union before the age of 18—has been a widespread practice in Mexico, particularly in rural and Indigenous regions. Historically, Mexican law permitted girls to marry at 14 and boys at 16, provided they had parental or judicial consent. This legal framework raised major concerns regarding the rights, health, education, and economic prospects of girls and adolescents. In response, the country enacted a reform to the Federal Civil Code in 2014, setting the minimum legal age for marriage at 18 with no exceptions. This study evaluates the impact of the child marriage ban in Mexico on three key outcomes. First, it analyzes the incidence of births to adolescent mothers. Second, it evaluates the effect on gender-based violence, using hospital discharges due to domestic violence as an indicator. Finally, it considers women’s empowerment, measured by labor income as reported in household surveys. <div> <br> </div> <div> The empirical strategy relies on a difference-in-differences design, leveraging both the temporal variation in the reform's implementation and the historical heterogeneity in child marriage prevalence at the municipal level. The analysis compares cohorts of women exposed and not exposed to the reform within each municipality, controlling for fixed effects at the municipal, cohort and year levels. This methodology allows estimation of how the reform’s impact varies according to the pre-existing intensity of child marriage in each municipality. The findings indicate that the reform is associated with a greater reduction in adolescent births in municipalities with high prior prevalence of child marriage. In addition, there is evidence of increased labor income among women in those areas, as well as an increase in reported cases of domestic violence. This latter result may reflect greater detection, increased willingness to report, or improved institutional responsiveness following the reform. Overall, these results suggest that the public policy not only restricted access to child marriage, but also contributed to improving the well-being of young women. </div>
