When the mother is a child: the impact of child marriage on the health and human rights of girls

Gender-Based Violence Against Adolescent and Young Adult Women in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

“…In Bangladesh for example, adolescents demonstrated a threefold increased odds of IPV relative to their adult counterparts. Bangladesh is distinct in having one of the highest rates of child marriage globally; [39] the IPV heightened risk observed may reflect gender-based power inequities that are reinforced by young age [15]. In other settings, gender-based vulnerabilities and broader indicators of social and political unrest may overshadow age-related vulnerabilities.…”

“…Their young age and relative inexperience with relationships can heighten their risk for physical and sexual IPV [9]. Those involved with or married to older men or married at a very young age can face IPV and other dimensions of limited relationship power [15,16]. Abuse during adolescence imparts risk for subsequent health concerns, including depression, suicidal ideation, chronic inflammation [17,18], and can set young women on a trajectory for subsequent abuse [18,19].…”

Child Marriage and Its Associations With Controlling Behaviors and Spousal Violence Against Adolescent and Young Women in Pakistan

“…Associations between child marriage and CB and spousal violence by husbands were assessed by calculating the unadjusted odds ratios (OR) and adjusted odds ratios (AOR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using logistic regression models after controlling for age and social equity indicators (education, wealth index, and rural residence). Although we did not find any difference between child and adult marriage by type of residence (rural vs. urban), we still kept the variable in the models because published literature has shown it to be an important determinant of poor health outcomes in child marriages [9,18,19,21]. Coefficients of independent variables were examined using Spearman correlation test to determine possible collinearity.…”

Economic Impacts of Child Marriage: A Review of the Literature

“…Isolation from school, friends, and the workplace hampers their access to social support that is important to their emotional well-being, and limits their access to social capital and networks that can increase their earning potential and productive use of earnings (Duflo 2011). In addition, married girls often lack the ability to negotiate sexual activity, contraceptive use, or birth spacing with their husbands (Raj 2010;UNFPA 2013) and in many cases are unable to speak up against the physical or emotional violence they experience at the hands of their husbands or in-laws within their own homes.…”