skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


  • NSF Public Access
  • Search Results
  • “I have never seen something like that”: Discrepancies between lived experiences and the global health concept of child marriage in northern Tanzania
Title: “I have never seen something like that”: Discrepancies between lived experiences and the global health concept of child marriage in northern Tanzania
Background The concept of ‘child marriage’ in global health distinguishes ostensibly harmful from healthy ages to marry at a universally-applied threshold of 18-years. With intensifying efforts to end child marriage, targeted communities are increasingly asked to change their perception of such marriages from relatively benign to profoundly problematic. The objective of this study is to understand how this shift in perception is navigated by adolescent girls and young women (AGYW). Methods Using qualitative data collected in 2019 from a semi-urban community in Tanzania where marriage under 18-years is common and campaigns to end child marriage ongoing, we contrast reports of lived experiences of marriage under 18-years among AGYW to views of child marriage as an abstract concept. Thirteen in-depth interviews with AGYW, as part of a wider qualitative study, were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using a framework analysis approach. Results While many AGYW had heard of child marriage, the concept was routinely conflated with forced marriage, which is rare in the community, and non-marital teenage sex and pregnancy, which are common. As a likely consequence, participants disagreed on whether or not child marriage occurs locally. Furthermore, accounts of real-life marriages under 18 sometimes aligned with, but often departed from, common narratives about the purported causes and harmful consequences inherent to the global health concept of child marriage. Conclusions We argue that engaging with diverse local views and experiences of marrying young is essential to producing culturally-sensitive, effective initiatives addressing the vulnerabilities of female adolescence.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1851317
PAR ID:
10321883
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ;
Editor(s):
Mavhu, Webster
Date Published:
Journal Name:
PLOS ONE
Volume:
16
Issue:
4
ISSN:
1932-6203
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; (, Social Sciences)
    For girls and women, marriage under 18 years is commonplace in many low-income nations today and was culturally widespread historically. Global health campaigns refer to marriage below this threshold as ‘child marriage’ and increasingly aim for its universal eradication, citing its apparent negative wellbeing consequences. Here, we outline and evaluate four alternative hypotheses for the persistence of early marriage, despite its associations with poor wellbeing, arising from the theoretical framework of human behavioral ecology. First, early marriage may be adaptive (e.g., it maximizes reproductive success), even if detrimental to wellbeing, when life expectancy is short. Second, parent–offspring conflict may explain early marriage, with parents profiting economically at the expense of their daughter’s best interests. Third, early marriage may be explained by intergenerational conflict, whereby girls marry young to emancipate themselves from continued labor within natal households. Finally, both daughters and parents from relatively disadvantaged backgrounds favor early marriage as a ‘best of a bad job strategy’ when it represents the best option given a lack of feasible alternatives. The explanatory power of each hypothesis is context-dependent, highlighting the complex drivers of life history transitions and reinforcing the need for context-specific policies addressing the vulnerabilities of adolescence worldwide. 
    more » « less
  2. ; ; ; ; (, Global Public Health)
    null (Ed.)
    Global health studies typically characterise adolescent marriage as a fundamental risk to female wellbeing. In contrast, ethnographic research among communities ‘at risk’ identifies that early marriage is often viewed as an opportunity weighed against locally feasible alternatives. Addressing this contradiction, we document perceived risks and opportunities of marriage, positioning them among wider concerns facing female adolescents in north-western Tanzania. On the basis of these data, we then provide recommendations for global efforts to end the marriage of minors. Thirteen focus groups and 26 in-depth interviews were conducted in 2019 with female adolescents, young women and men, and parents of female adolescents from a semi-urban community where adolescent marriage is normative. Data were compiled to synthesise narratives of adolescent risk and opportunity. Marriage was viewed as an opportunity for adolescent girls, bringing benefits such as increased social status. Risks sometimes outweighed benefits of marriage, but marriage remained desirable when structural constraints, like poverty, limited feasible alternatives and when adolescents faced similar risks, like pregnancy, outside of marriage. We conclude that remaining unmarried does not shield adolescents from adversity, and campaigns targeting adolescent marriage via criminalisation, without diminishing other risks of adolescence, may further limit rather than expand options for adolescent girls. 
    more » « less
  3. ; ; ; (, Evolutionary Human Sciences)
    Abstract Mate preferences probably evolved to increase fitness; however, studies using arranged and non-arranged marriage as proxies for limited and free mate choice (respectively) do not find any reproductive differences. We explore why arranged and non-arranged marriages are an imperfect proxy for limited and free-choice matings and what fitness effects different marriage types could produce. Data from focus group discussions with men and women in Nepal show that there are three spouse choice categories with differing levels of parental influence over mate choice, reinforcing that arranged and non-arranged are not dichotomous. Discussions also show that parents and offspring, especially sons, may be more aligned in in-law/mate preferences than expected, demonstrating the need to establish clear domains of parent–offspring disagreement over spouse choice in the community before investigating fitness. Several social and financial benefits that are only available to arranged couples in this community were detected, and these benefits could compensate for any costs of not choosing a spouse independently. These benefits of arranged marriage are more salient for women than for men. These discussions indicate that predictions about the effects of spouse choice on fitness outcomes may differ for men and women and depend on community-specific socioeconomic benefits. 
    more » « less
  4. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; et al (, Frontiers in Education)
    We focus on the use of flourishing as a new measure in studies of pathways in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematical) fields. While the concept of flourishing is promising, the concept may need careful interrogation to ensure it takes structural and personal (cultural, religious, socioeconomic, and racial) differences into account. Our longitudinal study explores emerging adult’s educational and career pathways with careful attention to structural inequities, enabling us to productively explore the concept of flourishing in a larger systemic context. Drawing from a set of qualitative interviews with our participants, we explore the ways that our sample of emerging adults (N= 30), predominantly people of color, define and discuss flourishing. The concept resonated with our diverse participants, and a substantial number did report flourishing. But despite the regularity with which the participants described experiencing racism and microaggressions, they did not often mention those harmful experiences when discussing flourishing. We caution that flourishing data on its own may provide an overly rosy image of the pathways and development, especially of young people of color. Our data suggest that it may be especially important to examine flourishing in context with other measures that can flesh out a fuller picture of well-being, especially in relation to race, racism, sexism, or any other experiences related to personal identities. In particular, instruments should be carefully designed to ensure–especially for emerging adults–that all aspects of their lives and identities can be fully understood. 
    more » « less
  5. ; ; ; (, American Political Science Review)
    Scholars have long questioned whether and how courts influence society. We contribute to this debate by investigating the ability of judicial decisions to shape issue attention and affect toward courts in media serving the LGBTQ+ community. To do so, we compiled an original database of LGBTQ+ magazine coverage of court cases over an extended period covering major decisions, includingLawrence v. Texas(2003),Goodridge v. Massachusetts Department of Public Health(2003), andLofton v. Secretary of Department of Children & Family Services(2004). We argue these cases influence the volume and tone of LGBTQ+ media coverage. Combining computational social science techniques with qualitative analysis, we find increased attention to same-sex marriage after the decisions inLawrence,Goodridge, andLofton,and the coalescence of discussions of courts around same-sex marriage afterLawrence.We also show how LGBTQ+ media informed readers about the political and legal implications of struggles over marriage equality. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email