Studying the contexts and consequences of child marriage in Lorestan province

Abstract

In Lorestan province, one of the phenomena that endangers the health and development of children is child marriage. According to evidence, about twenty percent of girls in this province are married at a childhood age, which is a remarkable rate. Child marriage is common while many other countries have outlawed it because of its harms. The question is why this phenomenon still remains despite the changes that the society has experienced. In this research, the answer to the above question is sought by using grounded theory. The study population is all women who have experience of marriage in childhood in Lorestan province. Forty cases from five cities of the province were interviewed using the purposeful sampling method. The findings show that legal legitimacy, traditions, disruption in the family, the norm of chastity and dropping out of school are the main causes of these marriages. Community residents arrange these marriages by applying pressure and families by forcing their daughters. Child marriage is not only a violation of children's rights, but also endangers the health of mothers and their babies. As a result of the child marriage of these women, their rights in the field of education, choosing a husband and a safe life with relative welfare have been jeopardized. Their set of strategies in the face of this phenomenon and its events consists of confronting each other, surrendering, Request for support and leaving the relationship, all of which are ineffective except for Request for support.

Keywords

• child marriage
• violation of rights
• powerless
• endangering mother's health