Research Study

(What are the Causes and

Effects of Early Marriage?)

Submitted By:
Arlyn I. Dinoy

Submitted To:
Mrs. Ruena L. Laurito
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1- Introduction…………………1
1.1- Statement of the
Problem………………………
…..2
1.2- Objectives………………......
2
1.3- Place of the study…………2
1.4- Limitations of the study…3
Chapter 2- Abstract………………………3

Chapter 3- Review of Related…………4

Literatures
Chapter 4- Methodology………………6
Chapter 5- Result and Conclusion……7
 Chapter 1- Introduction
Child marriage or Early marriage is a formal marriage or informal union entered
into by an individual before reaching a certain age, specified by some global
organizations as high as the age of 18. The legally prescribed marriageable
age in some jurisdictions is below 18 years, especially in the case of girls; and
even when the age is set at 18 years, many jurisdictions permit earlier marriage
with parental consent or in special circumstances, such as teenage pregnancy. In
certain countries, even when the legal marriage age is 18, cultural traditions take
priority over legislative law. Child marriage violates the rights of children, it affects
both boys and girls, though it is more common among girls. Child marriage has
widespread and long term consequences for child brides and grooms.

Child marriage is related to child betrothal, and it includes civil cohabitation and
court approved early marriages after teenage pregnancy. In many cases, only
one marriage-partner is a child, usually the female. Causes of child marriages
include poverty, bride price, dowry, cultural traditions, laws that allow child
marriages, religious and social pressures, regional customs, fear of remaining
unmarried, illiteracy, and perceived inability of women to work for
money.Consequences of child marriages include Inability to read or write, Having
many children, early and Marital instability

Child marriages were common throughout history for a variety of reasons

including poverty, insecurity, as well as for political and financial reasons. Today,
child marriage is still fairly widespread, particularly in developing countries, such
as parts of Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, West Asia, Latin
America, and Oceania. However, even in developed countries such as the United
States legal exceptions mean that 25 US states have no minimum age
requirement.The incidence of child marriage has been falling in most parts of the
world. The countries with the highest observed rates of child marriages below the
age of 18 are Niger, Chad, Mali, Bangladesh, Guinea and the Central African
Republic, with a rate above 60%. Niger, Chad, Bangladesh, Mali and Ethiopia
were the countries with child marriage rates greater than 20% below the age of
15, according to 2003-2009 surveys. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_marriage
 1.1-Statement of the Problem

What are the Causes and Effects of Early

Marriage?

1.2-Objectives
To know how the causes of early marriages
To know the consequences of early
marriages
To know how the opinions of people about
early marriages
To know the prevention of early marriages

1.3-Place of the study

Sindangan, Zamboanga del Norte, Philippines

7112
 1.4-Limitations of the study
As it is illegal to conduct child marriages, people
may not have accurate ideas about the issue.

Chapter 2- Abstract
Early marriage is a violation of the fundamental rights of the child. In 2006,
Pathfinder International conducted a study on the incidence, reasons for, and the
personal and social consequences of early marriage in both urban and rural
areas of one of the places in Africa where early marriage is still done.
Understanding the forces at work at the community and family levels that drive
parents to marry their girl-children off is essential in the development of effective
programmes to tackle this traditional practice. I conducted a simple interview of
asking random people what are the causes and effects of child marriage, 18
years old and above,14 women and 6 men for a total of 20 interviewees. The
strongest reason for early marriage is the desire or need to maintain the family’s
good name and social standing. In most cases, the child bride is taken to her in-
laws immediately after the wedding; in other cases the parents agree that the girl
stays with her parents until she is mature enough to live with her husband.
Married adolescent girls’ inability to negotiate safer sex and other social
pressures represent a critical channel of vulnerability to HIV infection. Other
consequences include: (1) marital instability; (2) termination of education; (3)
inability to plan or manage families; and (4) poor sexual health of women and
girls. http://www.hope4childwives.com/consequences-of-early-marriage

Chapter 3- Review of Related Literatures

There are many countries today that are engage in early marriage. About a third
of women aged 20-24 years old in the developing world were married as
children. Child marriage is most common in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa
but there are big differences in prevalence among countries of the same region.
While data from 47 countries show that, overall, the median age at first marriage
is gradually increasing; this improvement has been limited primarily to girls of
families with higher incomes. Overall, the pace of change remains slow. While 48
per cent of women 45-49 years old were married before the age of 18, the
proportion has only dropped to 35 per cent of women 20-24 years old.
(UNICEF, Progress for Children, 2010) . According to Snejana Farberov(2012)
there are about 51 million girls below age 18 are currently married, although this
is against the law of many countries and prohibited by the International treaties.
Girls engage in early marriage lived in the world of darkness and secret. In
Afghanistan it is observed that approximately 57 percent of girls wed before the
legal age of 16.

There are many several harmful effects that a young woman can get in
early marriage who are not physically, mentally, emotionally and psychologically
ready for having a family as stated by Kamala Sarup(2007). Lack of education,
early pregnancy, health problems like forced sexual relations, denial of freedom
and personal development and early divorce that violence and abandonment
may the subject to the girls because they are still children- vulnerable and
submissive.

Evidence shows that girls who marry early often abandon formal
education and become pregnant. Maternal deaths related to pregnancy and
childbirth are an important component of mortality for girls aged 15–19
worldwide, accounting for 70,000 deaths each year (UNICEF, State of the
World’s Children, 2009). Emotional and social are some of the effects of early
marriage but the most and tremendous part that can take from her are the formal
education which is the key of her success in life. Some parents arrange the
marriage of their children at the age of ten without their consent to have a child
which led them to suffer many tribulations that they should not experience. Those
young girls who are from poor families and have a lower education are married
early. Young woman play the role as a mother and a wife that deprive her rights
and opportunities to be a children- to play, to build friendships, to be educate and
to build social skills which help develop her personality. Experts agree that early
marriage denies the girls education and robs them of their childhood because
most young wives, burdened by grownup responsibilities, do not get a chance to
interact with their peers or carry on friendships outside the household.

According to Jay2starz not just education can take away from her but
also experiences in emotional adversity. Early marriage can make the girl think
that her only duty in life is to have children and to be a wife. It will also create
unhappiness to the both of them that may lead to them early divorce because
there is no love and respect that build inside from them which is the most
important to the couples to last their relationships. If they are unhappy with each
other then, the relationship can turn into an abusive relationship causing things to
become worse. Sometimes a girl cannot take the abuse any more from her
husband so she ends up committing suicide or running away with her children.
More often the girl will run away and find a distant relative to live with. When a
girl runs away from her husband it brings shame upon the family and the family
cuts the girl off from their lives. This leaves the girl alone even more than before.

According to Nawal M. Nour(2006) a young girls who are married at the

age of twenty become risk factor for HIV infection as has been shown several
studies of African population. A study in Kenya demonstrated that married girls
had a 50% higher likelihood than unmarried girls of becoming infected with HIV.
This risk was even higher (59%) in Zambia. In Uganda, the HIV prevalence rate
for girls 15–19 years of age was higher for married (89%) than single girls (66%);
for those 15–29 years of age, HIV prevalence was 28% for married and 15% for
single girls. As Nawal M. Nour stated that this study noted that the age gap
between the men and women was a significant HIV risk factor for the wives. A
hypothesis relevant to this finding is that a young girl may be physiologically
more prone to HIV infection because her vagina is not yet well lined with
protective cells and her cervix may be more easily eroded. All of these studies
showed that girls are being infected to their husbands. Most girls who enter early
marriages are expected to get pregnant right away, which often leads to tragedy
for both the mothers, who are still children themselves, and their babies.

Women who marry while in their teens are two-thirds more likely to
divorce within 15 years of their wedding compared with women who postpone
marriage. The high divorce rate is one of the effects of early marriage. Couples
getting early married tend to end their relationships earlier because many
misunderstanding and a heavy responsibility. The low maturity level of a person
accounts to the divorce rate. A quarrel between the couple may end up when one
suddenly suggested to divorce. Couples might also have financial problems if
they get married early because they are lack of education and they focus to care
their siblings than to find a job. Children can be a burden to the couple as
bringing up a child is costly. Moreover, lack of time management between the
husband and wife on who to take care of the kids would result in divorce.
Couples who concentrate more on their career tends to neglect children that may
result in a broken family.

Early marriage is an egregious violation of human rights to the woman that

deprived their opportunities to enjoy the life of being single as a youngster and
develop their personality with all the confidence and pride to enhance their
abilities and skills. All girls deserve to enjoy their adolescence and may the cycle
of early marriage can be broken. There should be program that can help and
provide better economic opportunity for girls and provide scholarship to the
teenagers for education because this is the only key to achieve success to attain
propitious life and more important is to change the traditional attitudes and
policies about early marriage.
http://reviewofrelatedliteratureenglish2.blogspot.com

Chapter 4- Methodology
The method I used in gathering information was a simple interview of the
statement of the problem, the interviewees were all random people from
Poblacion, Sindangan Zamboanga del Norte, pedestrians, above 18 years of
age, 14 women and 6 men for a total of 20 interviewees, some were reluctant but
I persuaded them that it was for a important research. They gave me the info I
needed to finish my work and develop a conclusion.

Chapter 5- Result and Conclusion

After compiling the answers and opinions, 20/20 interviewees or 100% of them
agreed that early marriages are wrong, the causes of early marriages are
uneducated people who thinks marriage can fix the problems of supporting their
daughter who is under aged and in some cases early marriage is a way to
prevent dishonor when the under aged girl or boy got somebody or became
pregnant. They also said some traditions allow these which is barbaric and girls
as seen as a trade object to solidify alliances with other families. The effects of
early marriages are increases risk of STD’s because the under-aged groom or
the bride (mostly the bride) is afraid to put the idea of safe-sex as their older
counterparts may be abusive to them, Having many children, early can expose
the mother and her children to psychological and other health problems and
Inability to read or write. The majority of the child wives have never gone to
school, of left school before completing a full course of primary education,
making them entirely dependent on their husbands in practical aspects of
everyday life. I agree with the interviewees’ opinions 100% as under aged kids
are not mature enough to deal with the harsh realities of marriage yet.