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| Early marriage linked to mental health problems |
In Africa and Nigeria in particular, early marriage is largely considered the best for women. The reasoning is based on the belief that a woman has no ‘time’ to waste as regards marriage and childbearing. For this reason, most women who are considered ‘ripe’ for marriage and are not married are constantly reminded to change their status.
In northern Nigeria, for instance, there are reports that 45 per cent of girls are married by age 15, and 73 per cent are married by age 18. The report further shows that many of such unions are arranged by families.
However, a new study has found that girls who marry too early are more likely to suffer from mental health problems later in life. The research, which was published in a journal, Pediatrics, found that women who were married as children — defined as 17 or younger by the study — were more likely to suffer from problems such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder and alcohol and drug addiction.
The researchers, led by Dr. Yann Le Strat, discovered the connection between early marriage and these psychological disorders by looking at data from more than 18,000 women who participated in the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions across the United States. Their method was determining how old they had been when they were first married - if they married at all - and whether or not they suffered from long or short-term psychiatric problems.
According to reports, the results of the study did not paint a good picture for early marriage. Even though the data was controlled for socioeconomic differences of the women used for the research, the study still found a link between marrying very young and psychiatric problems.
“My opinion is that being married is usually something wonderful for an adult who makes this important choice. Being married as a child - even in the U.S - is probably associated with familial pressure and sexual coercion by the husband, as it has been described in developing countries. These women require more attention from mental health care givers.” Le Strat says.
According to Le Strat, as significant as this study is — and as the first of its kind — it has only highlighted the link, as well as the need for more research.
“The cause of the psychiatric disorders still has not been fully explained,” he said.
He notes that the study did not for instance examine why the women got married so young. So, factors such as religion, teen pregnancy and pressure from family could all, also play a role in their mental health later on.
Facts about early marriage
-According to the International Center for Research on Women, 100 million girls will be married before the age of 18 in the coming decade. Most will be in sub-Saharan Africa and the Asian Subcontinent (Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh). In Niger, for example, 77 per cent of women in their early 20s were married as children. In Bangladesh, 65 per cent were. Child marriage also occurs in parts of the Middle East, including Yemen and the rural Maghreb.
In the United States, child marriage is still permissible in some states, with parental or judicial consent.
-Globally, according to UNICEF, 36 per cent of women aged 20-24 were married or in a union, forced or consensual, before they had reached 18.
-An estimated 14 million girls between the ages of 15 and 19 give birth each year. They are twice as likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth as women in their 20s.
-Girls who marry between the ages of 10 and 14 are five times as likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth as women in their early 20s.
Causes
Child marriage has many causes: cultural, social, economic and religious. In many cases, a mixture of these causes results in the imprisonment of children in marriages without their consent.
Poverty: Poor families sell their children into marriage either to settle debts or to make some money and escape the cycle of poverty. Child marriage fosters poverty, however, as it ensures that girls who marry young will not be properly educated or take part in the workforce.
“Protecting” the girl’s sexuality: In certain cultures, marrying a girl young presumes that the girl’s sexuality, therefore the girl’s family’s honour, will be “protected” by ensuring that the girl marries as a virgin. The imposition of family honour on a girl’s individuality, in essence robbing the girl of her honour and dignity, undermines the credibility of family honour and instead underscores the presumed protection’s actual aim: to control the girl.
Gender discrimination: Child marriage is a product of cultures that devalue women and girls and discriminate against them. “The discrimination,” according to a UNICEF report on “Child Marriage and the Law,” “often manifests itself in the form of domestic violence, marital rape, and deprivation of food, lack of access to information, education, healthcare, and general impediments to mobility.”
Inadequate laws: Many countries such as Pakistan have laws against child marriage. The laws are not enforced. In Afghanistan, a new law was written into the country’s code enabling Shiite, or Hazara, communities to impose their own form of family law, including permitting child marriage.
Trafficking: Poor families are tempted to sell their girls not just into marriage, but into prostitution, as the transaction enables large sums of money to change hands.
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