What does the American public know about 'child marriage'?

Abstract

Background: A global campaign to eradicate ‘child marriage’ (<18 years) increasingly targets governments, the private sector and the general public as agents of change. Here, we measure the current state of public knowledge of child marriage, identifying potential misconceptions and inaccurate beliefs. We then consider the implications of our survey for global health initiatives addressing child marriage.Methods: We surveyed USA nationals via the online survey platform MTurk. Participants provided sociodemographic information and answered ten questions about their understanding of child marriage. To identify potential misconceptions and inaccurate beliefs we present descriptive statistics for participant responses paired with correct answers where available.Results: 609 participants provided data for analysis. 59% were women, with a mean age of 37 years, just over half (55%) were university educated, and the majority (79%) were currently employed. Half of those surveyed mistakenly believed that the cut-off for child marriage is younger than the legal threshold of 18 years, and nearly three-quarters incorrectly believed that most child marriages occur at 15 years or below (child marriage primarily takes place in later adolescence). The large majority of participants incorrectly believed that child marriage is illegal throughout the United States (it’s illegal in only two states), and mistakenly believed that child marriage primarily takes place among Muslim-majority regions of the Middle East and North Africa (it is most common in sub Saharan Africa and South Asia). Participants tended to substantially overestimate the prevalence of child marriage in both the USA and abroad.Conclusions: These findings suggest that public understanding of child marriage is not only poor, but also shaped by wider misperceptions of both relatively high and low-income nations. Organizations seeking to empower girls and young women by reducing child marriage need to be cautious of these misunderstandings, and wary of the potential for their own activities to seed misinformation. For example, we suggest the terminology ‘child marriage’, as opposed to ‘teen marriage’ or ‘adolescent marriage’, may contribute to widespread confusion about the typical ages at which child marriages occur.

Why marry early? Parental influence, agency and gendered conflict in Tanzanian marriages

“…We caution here that agency is not a dichotomous trait (see also Lokot 2021, 2022) and that agency can exist even when constrained by limited options, social pressure and lack of information. Our conclusion is echoed by a growing body of research documenting evidence of female agency in marital transitions before 18 years across a variety of settings (Al Akash & Chalmiers, 2021; Boyden, Pankhurst, & Tafere, 2012; Knox, 2017; Stark, 2018; Syrett, 2016), and runs counter to a widespread view, held by both the general public of global north nations (Lawson et al, 2020) and global heath frameworks (Al Akash & Chalmiers, 2021; Schaffnit et al, 2020), that all or most ‘child marriages’ are, by definition, forced marriages. Evolutionary anthropology has a well-documented history of downplaying female agency in mating and marriage (Hrdy, 1981), which has been addressed by research documenting women's strategic behaviours to navigate conflicts of interest with men and wider kin (e.g.…”

“…Marriage of adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) under 18 years was historically ubiquitous, including within the past century in the global north (Dahl, 2010; Syrett, 2016), and is most common today in rural sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia (UNICEF, 2018). A global campaign to end child marriage has emerged over the last two decades, as evidenced by a dramatic increase in research (Efevbera & Bhabha, 2020), public awareness (Lawson, Lynes, Morris, & Schaffnit, 2020) and dedicated interventions, including changes to the legal age at marriage in both global south and global north nations (Arthur et al, 2018; Muthengi, Olum, & Chandra-Mouli, 2021; Reiss, 2021). This movement emerged following a century of broader attitudinal shifts towards the concept of childhood, in which children have become viewed as increasingly vulnerable, in need of protection and unprepared for adult responsibility (Dahl, 2010; Hart, 2009; Lancy, 2008; Syrett, 2016).…”

“…We therefore prefer the term ‘early marriage’, rather than child marriage, positioning our hypotheses as concerning relatively youthful transitions to marriage generally, rather than focusing on a legally defined, but otherwise arbitrary, threshold of 18 years. The term ‘child marriage’ also encourages misunderstanding, conjuring notions of predominantly prepubescent brides, while in reality, the large majority of ‘child brides’ worldwide marry during later adolescence, at 15 years or above (Lawson et al, 2020). For example, in the northern Tanzanian setting of the current study, an estimated 35% of female marriages occur under 18 years, but only 2% below 15 years (Schaffnit, Hassan, Urassa, & Lawson, 2019).…”