Child marriage often involves adolescents aged 10–19 years and poses significant health risks and challenges to gender equality. The aim of this systematic review was to examine the involvement of adolescent girls in decision-making processes regarding child marriage and identify influencing factors. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, this review covered studies published between January 2014 and July 2024. The databases searched included ScienceDirect, Springer Link, PubMed, and Taylor & Francis, using terms related to adolescent girls, decision-making, and child marriage. Inclusion criteria targeted studies involving girls aged 10–19, with methods including qualitative, quantitative, longitudinal, and mixed-method, published in English. Data extraction and quality assessment followed the standards of the Joanna Briggs Institute. Of 6,967 articles, 29 met the inclusion criteria, spanning 26 countries across three continents, with 51.7% being qualitative studies. Economic pressure was identified as the primary driver of child marriage, with significant parental and community influences restricting the girls' decision-making autonomy. Parents, especially fathers, often force girls into marriage to reduce economic burdens and enhance family honor. Some adolescent girls initiate marriage to escape adverse home conditions or societal stigma. Education and strong family support emerged as protective factors, while entrenched social norms perpetuated early marriages. Comprehensive approaches including educational improvement, economic support, and social norm transformation are essential. Addressing child marriage requires multidimensional strategies, encompassing enhanced educational opportunities, economic support, and changing entrenched social norms. Future research should focus on interventions that boost adolescent girls' life skills and decision-making autonomy to delay marriage and enable informed choices.
Sri Wahyuningsih, Sri Widati, Nunik Puspitasari et al.
Child marriage remains a major threat to adolescent girls’ health, development, and rights worldwide. Despite decades of progress, recent policy backsliding and sociopolitical instability have created new risks, with examples from Iraq, Afghanistan, and The Gambia illustrating how legal and political shifts are reshaping vulnerabilities for girls. This paper presents an integrated framework linking developmental science with legal and policy advocacy, emphasizing how evolving capacities and psychosocial maturity should inform marriage laws and protection mechanisms. It reframes advocacy and rights-based action as essential components of adolescent health systems, drawing on recent policy analyses and country examples to identify actionable, multisectoral strategies. The paper highlights an urgent need for collective, evidence-informed advocacy to protect adolescent girls and advance gender equality, an issue of growing importance amid renewed global attention to legal reforms on child marriage.
Marriages below the age of 18 are either forced or by own interest, influenced by different factors. The objective of this paper is to describe the role of marriage brokers in adolescent girls’ marriage in West Hararghe, Oromia region, Eastern Ethiopia. Qualitative data were drawn from a formative baseline (March to August 2016) and consecutive studies including the mid-term (May 2018 to August 2018) studies of Abdiboru, a Girls’ SRH and empowerment project. As findings demonstrate, adolescent girls below the legal age of marriage are forced to accept marriage proposals convinced by intermediaries/marriage brokers. Marriage brokers can be peers, relatives, elders or any skillful people in convincing and persuading girls. Marriage brokerage is commercialized and as a result, girls go through the burdens of early marriage and early child bearing. Marriage brokerage is a common act in the study area resulting in brokers to have a significant role on adolescent girls’ marriage. They play an inevitable role in arranging potential matches for adolescent girls. Programmers working on ending child marriage and related areas need to include these influential people in designing interventions.
Despite improved access to education and socioeconomic conditions, child marriage remains high in several countries. Part of the problems are norms and perceptions that continue to enable justification of the practice in society. We test the effectiveness of an entertainment-education short movie program targeted toward main child marriage actors, adolescents, and parents to address norms and perceptions regarding the costs and benefits of child marriage. We conducted a randomized control trial in two provinces in Indonesia using two different versions of the movie. The first version focuses on the cost of child marriage, including health and education impact. Given the role of religion in child marriage decisions, we also create another version of the movie to include additional religious messages that encourage the completion of education vis-a-vis child marriage. We find consistent improvements in perceptions about child marriage in the child marriage perception scale on the costs of child marriage-only intervention. The intervention results with additional religious messages have mixed evidence. The intervention improves the overall perception and risks of child marriage rather than the perceptions of the benefits and the benefits of delaying it. These results are consistent for both girls and their parents.
This study aims to improve early childhood reading skills through the implementation of an Initial Syllable Game. The importance of this research lies in providing an engaging, play-based strategy that supports early literacy development in a child-centered learning environment. This study employed a descriptive qualitative approach conducted at TK Istana Balita Cheng Hoo involving 26 children in Group A2. Data were collected through observation, interviews, and documentation. The research was implemented using cyclical stages of planning, action, observation, and reflection to systematically evaluate and improve the learning process. Data were analyzed inductively using descriptive qualitative techniques. The findings indicate that the Initial Syllable Game effectively enhanced children’s ability to recognize, identify, and pronounce initial syllables. Improvements were observed in children’s confidence, participation, and reading accuracy, with a gradual increase in performance categories from “needs guidance” to “good” and “very good.” The play-based and interactive nature of the game also fostered motivation and positive classroom engagement. The study implies that structured syllable-based games can serve as an effective instructional strategy for strengthening early literacy skills in kindergarten settings. Furthermore, the cyclical reflective model demonstrated in this research provides a practical framework for teachers to continuously improve classroom instruction through systematic evaluation and adaptation.
This study sought to investigate the development of social justice dispositions in early childhood preservice teachers. The participants of the study included two preservice teachers assigned to a four-week prekindergarten field experience, one Black and the other White, both female. This was a qualitative study utilizing observational case study methods and open coding. Data were collected using the Cultural Fluency Survey, the annotated lesson plans of the preservice teachers, and the reflective journal the kept; as well as the recorded responses of the prekindergarten students during the literature lesson in pictorial form. The researchers found the early childhood preservice teachers who participated in this study exhibited strong social justice dispositions in development. The current study may help teacher educators consider what areas of the early childhood program could be changed to equip relevant preservice teachers with multiple opportunities and field placement.
Efforts to improve children's fine motor skills are an indispensable effort in growing and developing early childhood, one of which is using the media of playdough games. This study aims to find out (1) whether there is an effect of playdough media on the fine motor development of group B children at Pembina Sekayu State Kindergarten, (2) whether there is an effect of playdough media on the cognitive development of group B children at Pembina Sekayu State Kindergarten. This study is a quasi-experimental research with a nonequivalent control group design, the population of this study is all children aged 5-6 years at Pembina Sekayu State Kindergarten, with a sample of 60 children. The instrument used was in the form of observation techniques for the fine motor and cognitive development of children. The data analysis technique used independent sample t-test analysis with a significance level of 0.05. The results of the study showed that: (1) there was a significant influence of playdough media on the fine motor development of group B children at Pembina Sekayu State Kindergarten where the paired sample t-test results were obtained on average of 46.77 with a Sig value of 0.000 < 0.05. (2) there was a significant influence of playdough media on the cognitive development of group B children at Pembina Sekayu State Kindergarten where the paired sample t-test results were obtained on average of 52.93 with a Sig value of 0.000 < 0.05. So based on the study, it can be concluded that there is a very significant influence on playdough media games on fine motor and cognitive development in early childhood
Children's inability to manage their social and emotional well-being requires strategic intervention through adult support. This study aims to analyze the social and emotional development of early childhood through the implementation of the EMC2 approach in the PAUD environment. This study employed a field research design with a qualitative descriptive approach. Data were collected through observation, interviews, and documentation. Data analysis was conducted narratively to describe the opinions, actions, and phenomena observed during the study. Theoretically, this study confirms that the EMC2 approach is effective in mapping and stimulating children's emotional intelligence in formal settings. Practically, the high percentage of students in the "Developing" category (74% cumulative BSH and BSB) indicates that integrating teachers' understanding of children's developmental stages and structured adult support can minimize social-emotional barriers. These results imply the importance of standardizing teacher competencies in emotional literacy to ensure that the remaining percentage of "Undeveloped" children can be accommodated through more personalized interventions.
Mushab Al Umairi, Alfiyanti Nurkhasyanah, Abdul Razak Masae
Parental approaches are necessary, as they guide their children in developing the skills and acquiring the basic knowledge important to their development. This study examined the levels of parental approaches and learners’ early childhood development, determined their correlation, and investigated which parental approach best predicted learners’ early childhood development. The independent variable focused on parental approaches to decision-making, parenting, and volunteering. On the other hand, the dependent variable focused on the learners’ early childhood development. Correlational and causal research designs were utilized in this study. A modified questionnaire that passed the validity and reliability tests was used. A total of 118 respondents were selected through simple random sampling from the selected Child Development Centers in Opol, Misamis Oriental. The collected data were analyzed using various statistical methods, including the Mean and Standard Deviation, the Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient, and multiple linear regression. Findings revealed that the parental approaches were at a Moderate Level, while the learners’ level of early childhood development was at an Average Advanced Development Level. Parental approaches were positively associated with learners’ early childhood development, with parenting being the strongest predictor. It is recommended that the parents always make their learners feel their support, guidance, and attention to strengthen their ties and connection with them.
Religious education in early childhood is an essential guide for getting closer to Allah and behaving according to the social norms that are in place. Dhuha prayer habits is performed every morning at Aditya Playgroup, Karawang. However, in implementation, some children are not yet stable and consistent so they still need teacher guidance. This research aims to describe early childhood Dhuha prayer habits in early childhood education units. This research was conducted using qualitative phenomenological methods. Data collection techniques use interviews, observation and documentation. There were 4 informants consisting of the principal, class teacher and parents. The research results showed that of the 23 children who were accustomed to Dhuha prayer activities, 21 were accustomed to performing Dhuha prayers at school and at home. The Dhuha prayer habituation activities at Aditya Playgroup are following the Dhuha prayer procedures. Children also learn the procedures for ablution by singing ablution claps. Children can also master reading and praying the Dhuha prayer without memorizing, so getting used to the Dhuha prayer can be said to be successful in building good habits in children.
