Overlooked and Unaddressed: A narrative review of mental health consequences of child marriages.

Burgess, Rochelle; Jeffery, Mairi; Odero, Sabina Adhiambo; Devakumar, Delanjathan; Rose-Clarke, Kelly

doi:10.31235/osf.io/ew9pn

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…The solution to the aforementioned bad situation should be sought in the wider community, which unites economic, social, psychological, educational, pedagogical and family support with one common goal, which is to prevent minor (child) marriage by force, compulsion, decree and sanctions. 12 Research into underage marriages of girls in the era of the Covid-19 pandemic is particularly interesting. This is a highly representative sample of married and unmarried girls in India.…”

Section: Previous Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Causality of mental health and child marriage

Mijanovic

2023

MOJSM

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The goal and problem of this research is the impact of minor (child) marriages on the mental health of minors in Montenegro. Child marriages are especially present in Roma and Egyptian communities in these and wider areas. After extensive research on a representative sample of both sexes, the assumptions that domestic violence still dominates in these ethnic communities have been confirmed. The average age of girls at the time of marriage is 16.47, and for men 18.39. According to this research, the youngest married couples are 12-year-old girls and 13-year-old boys. In addition to arranged minor marriages, which are a kind of violence against violence, other forms of violence (physical, sexual, emotional, economic, social, racial, child theft and child trafficking) have also been established. In some form, men's violence against women is present without exception. The causes of violence against women are numerous, starting with alcohol, drugs, gambling, poverty, jealousy, lack of education, and tradition. According to the respondents, poverty is not the main reason for violence against women, but the analysis of the results of the regression and correlation analysis show that poverty is highly correlated with alcohol, drugs and gambling. Jealousy as a reason for physical violence is very little represented. Women's attitudes towards violence particularly interesting and unexpected. As many as 26.3% of women support violence in all circumstances and violence in certain circumstances. Men were even more passionate, 40.9% of men believe that violence is acceptable in all circumstances and in certain circumstances. It is indicative and important to point out that 22.3% of women and 36.6% of men did not express their opinion on this issue. Women did not declare that they suffer violence because of fear of new violence, and men did not declare because of sanctions by the competent institutions. The main cause of poor mental health among minors, especially among girls, is early marriage, which interrupts natural biological growth and development. Numerous disruptive endogenous and exogenous factors generate violence up to murder, and the ultimate outcome of violence is chronically disturbed mental health.

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Section: Previous Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Causality of mental health and child marriage

Mijanovic

2023

MOJSM

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“…There is vast evidence that child marriage is associated with unwanted and adverse fertility outcomes, under utilization of antenatal care, and intimate partner violence [2]. Several studies also found negative impacts of child marriage on women's mental health conditions [3]. However, long term health consequences of child marriage, especially it's impact on chronic health outcomes and health risk behaviors, are relatively less explored.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of child marriage on women’s nutritional status in adulthood

Datta,

Fazlul

2023

Preprint

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Background: Child marriage, defined as marriage before the age of 18 years, could have detrimental impacts on women’s physical and psychological development affecting health outcomes in adulthood. This observational study aimed to examine whether women’s nutritional status, measured by body mass index (BMI) categories, was associated with being married in childhood. Methods: Using nationally representative repeated cross-sectional data on 822,642 married women, aged 20 to 49 years, from the 2015-16 and 2019-21 waves of India National Family Health Survey, we assessed the risk of underweight, overweight, and obesity conditions, relative to having BMI at the normal threshold, between women who were married as children and as adults. Results: Estimates of the baseline multinomial logistic regression model, without controlling for household wealth, showed that women married in childhood were 1.09 times more likely to be underweight and 7.5% and 8.3% less likely to be overweight or obese, respectively. However, when household wealth index quintiles were adjusted, women married as children were found 8.2% less likely to be underweight, and 1.12 and 1.23 times more likely to be overweight or obese, respectively. These results were robust across different birth cohorts and geographic region sub-groups and indicated a classic case of the Simpson’s paradox. Conclusion: We found that compared to women who were married as adults, women married in childhood had a higher risk of overweight and obesity. Our estimates of this relationship can play an important role in educating public health stakeholders and stimulating further research aimed at informing targeted policy interventions.

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Associations between early marriage and preterm delivery: Evidence from lowland Nepal

Miller

Marphatia

Wells

et al. 2021

American J Hum Biol

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Objectives: Preterm delivery (<37 weeks gestation) is the largest cause of child mortality worldwide. Marriage and pregnancy during adolescence have been associated with an increased risk of preterm delivery. We investigate independent associations of age at marriage and age at first pregnancy with preterm delivery in a cohort of women from rural lowland Nepal. Methods:We analyzed data from 17 974 women in the Low Birth Weight South Asia Trial. Logistic regression models tested associations of age at marriage and age at first pregnancy with preterm delivery, for primigravida (n = 6 243) and multigravida (n = 11 731) women. Models were adjusted for maternal education, maternal caste, and household asset score.Results: Ninety percent of participants had married at <18 years and 58% had their first pregnancy at <18 years. 20% of participants delivered preterm.Primigravida participants married at ≤14 years had higher odds of preterm delivery than those married ≥18 years, when adjusting for study design (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.45, 95% CI: 1.15-1.83), confounders (aOR 1.28:1.01-1.62) and confounders + age at pregnancy (aOR 1.29: 1.00-1.68). Associations were insignificant for multigravida women. No significant associations were observed between age at first pregnancy and preterm delivery. Discussion: In this population, early marriage, rather than pregnancy, is a risk factor for preterm delivery. We hypothesize that psychological stress, a driver of preterm delivery which is increased among those marrying young, rather than physiological immaturity, drives this association. Further research into the psychological consequences of child marriage in Nepal is needed.

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Overlooked and Unaddressed: A narrative review of mental health consequences of child marriages.

Cited by 3 publications

References 3 publications

Causality of mental health and child marriage

Causality of mental health and child marriage

Role of child marriage on women’s nutritional status in adulthood

Associations between early marriage and preterm delivery: Evidence from lowland Nepal

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