Investigation of Factors Associated with the Child Marriage in Turkey

ABSTRACT

Marriages under the age of 18 are considered early marriage cases. This situation is one of the many problems faced by women all over the world. This study aims to determine the individual and familial characteristics of children who are married at an early age. In this study, the forensic files in the Child Advocacy Center, a forensic unit for abused children are refer to, were retrospectively analyzed. After the screening, 440 cases who came to the center due to early marriage were detected. Then, the data were analyzed using descriptive statistical methods and chi-square tests In this study, the female gender, the dropout from school, the low socioeconomic level of the family and the presence of economic problems in the family, the education levels of the parents at primary and lower levels, parental marriage at an early age, the mother not having a job, and the fragmented family presence were the most prominent risk factors. In this context, preventive and rehabilitative studies could be conducted for individual and familial risk factors.

KEYWORDS:

• Underage marriage
• early marriage
• adolescent
• individual risk factors
• familial risk factors

Agreement

All authors have contributed to, seen, and approved of the manuscript and agree to the order of authors as listed on the title page.

Data availability

The data cannot be shared because it contains the forensic information.

Sources of funding

This manuscript involved no financial support.

Disclosure of potential conflicts

Author hadn’t any conflicts of interest, real and perceived.

Ethics approval statement

Research ethics committee approval was obtained from Yildirim Beyazit University Yenimahalle Education and Research Hospital Clinical Studies Ethics Committee. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Patient consent statement

Informed consent was not obtained by researches because of the study method.

Permission to reproduce material from other sources

Material from other sources was not involved.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Fadime Yüksel

Dr Fadime Yüksel MD, MsS, Social Pediatrics Specialist: Dr Yüksel completed her medical degree at Gazi University in Ankara and her pediatric training at Cumhuriyet University in Sivas, Turkey. After her experience in the private sector and the Forensic Medicine Institution, she started working in the Child Advocacy Center of the Turkish Ministry of Health and started her social pediatrics master's degree, which she completed in 2018. During this period, she attended conferences on child abuse and provided various trainings. She also published articles in this field. Her clinical interests are child abuse, monitoring healthy children and growths, developments and vaccination of children over 1 month of age, training mothers and families on child health and care and on breastfeeding. She is a member of the National Social Pediatrics Association, the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Association and the Child and Information Security Association. She is currently working in Ankara City Hospital Social Pediatrics Department.Fadime Yüksel MD, MsS, Social Pediatrics Specialist: Dr. Yüksel completed her medical degree at Gazi University and her Pediatric training at University of Cumhuriyet, in Sivas Turkey. After her experience in the private sector and Forensic Medicine Institution, she started working in the child advocasy center of the Ministry of Health.Social pediatrics master's degree.  During this period she attended conferences on child abuse and gave many trainings. She has published articles in this field and still continues to work in Ankara City Hospital Social Pediatrics Department. Her clinical interests are child abuse, following healty child, growths and developments of children over 1mounth of age are follow up, children are vacciniation, mothers and families  trainings on child health and care and on breast-feeding.She is member National Social Pediatrics Association,  Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Association and Child and Information Security Association.

Nilüfer Koçtürk

Dr Nilüfer Koçtürk is an assistant professor at Hacettepe University, Department of Psychological Counseling and Guidance in Turkey. She is one of the first forensic interviewers at the Ankara Child Advocacy Center, which was first established for the forensic interviews of sexual abuse victims in Turkey. Her research interests include the child abuse and neglect, individual and familial risk factors, family violence, counseling and guidance for disadvantaged children and families, online violence, family violence, child's developmental problems, myths, and inclusive education.