Perceiving the Physical and Psychological Consequences of Child Marriage and Strategies Adopted by the Child Spouses

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Mohammad Bagher Alizadeh Aghdam ¹
• bahareh malekzadeh dizaj cheraghi ²

¹ Department of Social Science, Faculty of Law & Social Science, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

² Master's student in Sociology, Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, Tabriz University

10.30495/jzvj.2025.32485.4072

Abstract

Introduction: child marriage happens all over the world and it is not a newly emergent phenomenon. The new point in the child marriage is its various consequences and its impact on girls who have inevitably become victims of child marriage. In this regard, the present research aims to understand the physical and psychological consequences of child marriage and the strategies adopted by the child spouses.

Methods: The current research was conducted based on a qualitative method and phenomenological approach. The data were collected from 31 female students of Sufian district who had experienced under 15 year old marriage. The subjects were chosen through interviews and the purposeful sampling method. The validity of the findings was verified through member control and researcher self-monitoring methods.

Findings: With the incompleteness of the period of childhood and adolescence, which leads to the removal of the dramatic stage, the child faces a world of buried dreams, and the lack of socialization in Mead's view, and as a result, the lack of a coherent self-perception, causes the child's lack of independence and male domination. It stabilizes the children of spouses, dropping out of school, mother's child and being forced to play the role of mother are among the important consequences of early marriage.

Violence in sexual relations is an important consequence of the body that lack of awareness of sexual rights exposes children of spouses to violent sexual relations.Sexual violence is an important physical consequence.

Keywords

• Child Marriage
• Premature Motherhood
• sexual violence
• patriarchy
• suicide

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