Child Marriages and Unions in Latin America: Understanding the Roles of Agency and Social Norms

Abstract

PurposeChild marriages and unions can infringe upon adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive health (AYSRH). Interventions increasingly promote strategies to transform social norms or foster the agency of adolescent girls. Recent empirical studies call for further understanding of how social norms and agency interact in ways that influence these practices, especially in contexts where girls' agency is central.MethodsA secondary cross-case analysis of three qualitative studies (in Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras) was conducted to inform the investigation of how norms and agency may relate in sustaining or mitigating child marriage.ResultsSocial norms dictating how girls/young women and how men should act indirectly led to child marriages and unions. The data showed that (1) social norms regulated girls' acceptable actions and contributed to their exercise of “oppositional” agency; (2) social norms promoted girls' “accommodating” agency; and (3) girls exercised “transformative” agency to resist harmful social norms.ConclusionsResearch should advance frameworks to conceptualize how social norms interact with agency in nuanced and context-specific ways. Practitioners should encourage equitable decision-making; offer confidential, adolescent-friendly AYSRH services; and address the social norms of parents, men and boys, and community members.

Child Marriage and Resistance Movements

“…Child marriage is a formal or informal marriage that involves a person who is below the age of 18, and it is considered as a human right violation (Taylor et al 2019). The United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) has stated that a child marriage occurs when one or both spouses involved are below 18 years old.…”

“…The rate of morbidity and mortality was found to be higher for young girls due to physical and emotional immaturity, lack of healthcare provided, as well as poor nutrition in their body, not to mention the higher risk of diseases that they may be infected with during pregnancy and the complication risk during the delivery of the baby (Mahoto 2016). Taylor et al (2019) claim that child marriage will also lead to the increase of a young child's vulnerability to maternal mortality, higher morbidity and mortality, as well as the implication of fertility and childbearing at such a young age.…”

“…Furthermore, they are also exposed to a harmful environment where child marriage may also increase the risk of partner violence that in turn may eventually lead to social isolation from the society. Not only has child marriage greatly affected the development of a young child, but it also has greater impacts on the community and society and national and international levels (Taylor et al 2019).…”

“…In addition, child brides face greater consequences in childbearing, leading to higher rates of mortality and morbidity as well as higher rates of exposure to diseases such as HIV and AIDS. These situations make it difficult to achieve the goal under SDGs for good health and well-being (Paul and Chouhan 2019;IWHC 2019;Lal 2015;Mahoto 2016;Taylor et al 2019). This situation indicates that child marriage not only affects the child individually but also affects the world as it prohibits the potential to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.…”

Associations between village-level norms on marital age and marital choice outcomes among adolescent wives in rural Niger

“…In order to meet this goal, a clearer understanding of the mechanisms through which child marriage occurs is required. Social norms reinforcing CEFM have been hypothesized as underlying these practices and are thus a potential lever for change ( Bicchieri et al, 2014 ; Fenn et al, 2015 ; Heise et al, 2019 ; Shakya et al, 2018 ; Steinhaus et al, 2019 ; Taylor et al, 2019 ; UNICEF-UNFPA, May 2019 ). Although initial research examining the associations between norms and practices of CEFM suggests significant associations, this research is still nascent and has been conducted in a limited number of countries.…”