Feelings of insecurity.

In the case of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, many of the participants, parents and adolescent girls, reported feelings of insecurity as they experienced verbal or physical harassment while residing in refugee settlements: “Fear of insecurity is a major factor. They are marrying early because of al Sutra. We have war. Many women are afraid of being raped, and if a married woman is raped, she is more likely to be forgiven by her husband but if an unmarried woman is raped, it will destroy her life” [31]. In the case of parents, this fear was the driving force to marry off their daughters. Parents living in situations of conflict and displacement had concerns about the safety of their daughters’ chastity, and felt that the girls would be safer if they were married early.

Security concerns were evident both in the home country and in the settlements. There were reports that parents were purposefully sending their daughters from areas of conflict in Syria to get married at a young age in Lebanon, in order to escape the conflict and provide protection for their daughters. Parents were worried that their daughters may experience physical attacks or rape before getting married in Syria, which would not only harm the girls but also hinder their future: “Moreover, they [unmarried adolescent women] were also vulnerable to sexual harassment, and occasionally even rape due to living in unfamiliar and sometimes insecure areas and the breakdown of social networks” [31]. In such cases of marriage in the settlements, the daughters who were getting married had never seen the future husbands before the day when they got married.

Financial constraints.

Another factor causing insecurity among refugee parents or those living in the slums that encouraged early marriage was financial constraints. In the midst of the conflict, families in displaced settlements tended to be of large numbers and parents sought to relieve their responsibilities and reduce the family’s financial burden by letting their daughters get married at an early age: “Some people marry off their daughters at an early age because these are their traditions but others do it to ease the financial pressure. For example, there are fathers who are jobless and who have to provide for 5 or 6 people, so marrying off one of their daughters will help” [31]. This is a view shared by some adolescent girls who agreed to their parents’ wishes. Other girls who lived in constrained spaces with numerous family members crammed into small rooms viewed marriage as an escape from their situation. In the case of those residing in slum areas in Pakistan, it was evident that child marriage would be favored by women from poor, low-educated families in the rural areas: “Based on the occupational categories of the respondents and their husbands, fifteen respondents (78.4%) belonged to a low socio-economic class” [32]. The parents perceived that the girls would become the responsibility of their husbands who would then protect and take care of them financially.

Fear of losing the opportunity.

For adolescent girls, the fear of not being able to find a suitable partner was a motivation to accept early marriage: “I knew him very well. They were very nice people… he met my criteria. I was going to school that time, but I thought, if I got married I would be better off because my husband had a good condition. I did not want to miss the chance.” Their idea of a perfect suitor was someone with a good personality, whether they know the family of the future husband or not. Further, there was a prevailing belief in the society under study, such as in southeast province in Iran and suburban area in Morocco, that when a girl’s age increases, her opportunities for marriage would diminish. This belief was prominent in the traditional Iranian culture, especially in the rural areas. Thus, it acted as pressure pushing the young unmarried girls to accept to get married at a young age at their first suitable opportunity.

Insufficient legal protection.

In Morocco, despite the introduction of the new Family Code (Moudawana) in 2004 raising the minimum age for marriage from 15 to 18 years of age, there is an increase in the number of young women forced into marriage. There were 41,098 child marriages authorized in 2010, an increase of 23.6% from 2009. Sabbe et al. explored women’s perspectives on marriage and rights in Morocco in relation to the factors that contribute to child and forced marriages [33]. The findings demonstrated that there was an overall agreement among the study participants that there are loopholes in the existing legal framework, and often, these legislations are not being enforced properly. The participants reported that cases of corruption around marriage were common; for example, some institutions that conduct wedding ceremonies could be bribed when the young women were below the legal minimum age: “There are ways to circumvent the law … Institutions that conduct the wedding ceremony are bribed in order for marriage to take place at a younger age” [33].

Legal and social divergence.

Sabbe et al. interviewed a broad range of stakeholders in Morocco about their perspectives on factors that contribute to child and forced marriage [34]. Out of the major themes that emerged around legal issues, “legal and social divergence in conceptualizing forced and child marriage” was included. In many circumstances, it was difficult to judge whether a girl agreed to the union out of free will. There were clear-cut cases of physical violence; however, emotional or mental pressure from the family might lead to feelings of anxiety and fear that could overrule the girl’s resistance to marry: “There is pressure, often from the family, that is a given. But once there is a signature, suggesting an agreement to the marriage, the contract is valid. Without consent the contract is void, and therefore the marriage has never taken place” [34]. Moreover, some participants reported situations in which the family court judge arbitrarily authorized the underage marriage, whereby, appearing to protect the young girls from stigma stemming from the loss of virginity or pregnancy, or to provide them the opportunity of a “better” life abroad. Participants acknowledged the so-called “legal pragmatism” faced by judges. Their ruling was often inconsistent with the law and biased in favor of approving child marriage because their social expectations and patriarchal vision of the family unit influenced their decisions. Another important theme found by Sabbe et al. was the “impact of legislation”, where discussions predominantly evolved around the “Rape Marriage Law.” To circumvent sexual relations outside of marriage, Article 475 of the Moroccan Penal Code states that the abductor of a minor (without using violence, threat or fraud) can escape prosecution and imprisonment by marrying the victim. Participants cited this as “Institutional rape.” Although Article 475 was amended in 2014, and the aforementioned statement about marriage was eliminated from the Moroccan Penal Code, it affected many girls who had been married due to rape prior to this year in Morocco.

Participants’ knowledge related to legal age for marriage.

Raj et al. identified perspectives on the causes of and potential solutions to child and forced marriage among religious leaders, the police, teachers, and nongovernmental organizations (NGO) and government officials in Kabul, Jalalabad, and Mazar, Afghanistan [36]. Regarding the participants’ knowledge and perspectives related to the legal age for marriage in Afghanistan, participants were aware of the legal age for marriage (16 years). However, most participants felt that the legal age for marriage should be raised to 18 years. In contrast, for religious leaders, an older age for marriage among women is not in line with Islamic law which considers that reaching puberty is appropriate for marriage, hence, 16 years is a suitable age if the girl has begun experiencing signs of puberty: “Islamic and Sharia law states that a girl should reach puberty before marriage, so 16 years is appropriate provided the girl’s puberty has begun” (male religious leader) [36]. Nonetheless, most religious leaders described child marriage (below the age of 16) and forced marriage as “haram” (against God) based on the Quran which states that a marriage requires both adulthood and consent from the bride and groom. In their opinion, however, adulthood was not necessarily consistent with the legal age as stipulated by the law, as they consider that some women are already mature from the age of 12.

Marrying-out away from family.

Mangeli et al. explored the perspectives of adolescent mothers in Kerman, Iran, with regards to factors that encouraged them to get married at an early age [30]. “Instability within the family,” in particular, family breakdown and divorce or death of parents, were cited as causes of early marriage. Participants viewed that “marrying-out” away from family would lead to a better situation; i.e., one participant was unable to get along with the new husband of her mother, and ‘marrying out’ was perceived as the best solution: “I was nine years old when my parents got divorced… my mother married another man. I had a lot of problems with my stepfather and half-sisters and brothers. I could not accept my stepfather as my father” [30]. Furthermore, some adolescents got married at an early age due to the “Desire and encouragement of parents,” which in turn, may have been largely influenced by financial problems, social norms, and cultural and religious issues.

Cultural family values normalizing child marriage.

Montazeri et al. interviewed women who visited the health care centers in Ahvaz, Iran, in an effort to understand the determinants of early marriage [38]. “Cultural family values” emerged as a facilitator for child marriage. In their studies, the parents of girls inculcated in their daughters that early marriage is a desirable thing to pursue [30, 38]. In Morocco, grandparents and older relatives have a strong influence on household decisions including the marriage of the young member of their family: “The stance of these women essentially suggests that potential victims of a forced marriage should let themselves be convinced by their fathers or older relatives to go ahead with the unwelcome marriage and, above all, convince themselves that they actually want to marry the proposed partner” [33, 34]. Parents and grandparents teach the adolescent girls that marriage at an early age is virtuous. From the participants’ perspectives, being encouraged by family to get married greatly influenced their decision making. Mangeli et al. described that, as the Iranian mothers preferred that their daughters get married at the same age as they did, it is difficult to alter the vicious cycle of child marriage through generations in the family [30].

Furthermore, the quality of the suitor seemed to have played a role in the parents urging their children to get married. Parents would encourage their daughter, regardless of her age, to marry a “suitable” candidate who is well educated and of good moral and economical status: “Regardless of girl’ age, if any suitor was morally and economically in good condition, parents would encourage their daughter to marry him: …‘The boy was polite, educated and had a good job. He also had no problem with me to continue my education after getting married. My mom wanted me to marry him’” [38]. Further, consanguineous marriage was the most preferable. However, if a suitor among the relatives was not viewed as appropriate, parents would reject him, which reflects that parents do play a major role in approving a marriage. Vang et al. discussed the insights of Hmong American women who were married under the age of 18 with regards to their perspectives related to their early marriages. Teenage marriage is internalized as a family discourse and cultural norm in a “family culture normalizing teenage marriage.” Family members constantly and commonly conveyed the acceptability and preference of teenage marriage through family stories and in everyday conversation, thus, exposing the participants to the notion of marriage at an early age: “When I was younger, I remember my parents always telling me that I had to learn how to be a good wife and they used to say things like ‘if you don’t get married when you’re still young, no one will want to marry you when you’re old.” [39].

Religion as a justification for child marriage.

Several studies reported that child marriage was favored, based on the adherence to religious beliefs. As mothers and grandmothers taught their daughters and granddaughters that marriage was a prophet’s recommendation in Islam, an adolescent girl getting married at a young age was perceived as a good thing: “My mother and grandmother advised me to marry as soon as possible because marriage is one of our prophet’s recommendations” [38]. In Islam, based on religious doctrines, it is taught that when a person gets married, he/she indeed perfects half of his/her religion. This suggests that, regardless of their age, marriage is perceived as promoting human spiritual maturity in this religion. Concurrently, according to the Islamic religion, marriage should not be imposed if a girl is not ready. However, readiness for marriage is a subjective judgement that cannot be easily assessed by others, and as a consequence, child marriage is tolerated most of the time. When there were cases where the girls would insist on not being able to make decisions independently due to being too young and lack of sufficient knowledge and skills, the parents would still encourage their children to get married if there was a good proposal, as influenced by their religious beliefs.

Sex outside wedlock as a religious taboo.

Several studies reported that sexual relationships outside wedlock are considered as a religious taboo among Muslim communities. Because of the religious beliefs, in Islamic countries, the parents favor the decision of early marriage for their daughters when they find out that their daughters are engaging in premarital sex. Due to the fear of pregnancy outside wedlock, the parents quickly marry off their daughters at the first opportunity: “My family believed that marriage can protect me from sin [sex outside marriage]” [38]. Further, from the girls’ perspective, due to the existing religious beliefs that having a baby outside marriage is a religious taboo, the adolescent mothers prior to marriage perceive having a child as the reason for receiving God’s blessing for their early marriage. By getting married as soon as they found out that a girl was impregnated, the family believe that they could avoid committing a sin.

Abortion is forbidden by religion. In a study conducted in Lebanon, there were few women who wanted to interrupt their pregnancies but were unable to find abortion services, as abortion is against local religious practices [29]. Unmarried pregnant women were left with no choice but to deliver the baby, and then forced into getting married at a young age: “No, it is forbidden (to abort). When a woman is pregnant, that’s it. There is nothing she could do.” [29].

Feelings of loneliness.

Loneliness was one of the motivating factors for child marriage. Due to feelings of loneliness, the young female adolescents were encouraged to get married at an early age. The feelings of loneliness stem from the experience of separation from family, friends, school, and other events in their lives: “As I have no sister or brother, father, mother or friends, I decided to get pregnant, no one was beside me” [30]. The loneliness was further exacerbated in conflict settings when adolescent girls were living in a new neighborhood in the settlements and often no longer attending school after the conflict, which created a crude and lonely situation for them in the settlements. After the conflict, the girls could no longer focus on their studies. As a result of the conflict, family homes were destroyed and the whole family lacked livelihoods. This led the parents to seek better ways of life by forcing their daughters into early marriages. In these cases, child marriage was a coping strategy in the face of loneliness. The girl also had the desire to become pregnant, as they believed that having children would get rid of loneliness: “I like kids very much. I wanted to have children. When I saw other people’s children, I wanted to have a baby too” [30]. They believe that by having a baby, they would be able to fill the void in their lives.

Lack of autonomy in decision making.

In Iran, Montazeri et al. interviewed women who visited health care centers in Ahvaz to understand the determinants of early marriage [38], and Mardi et al. investigated the perception of marriage among married teenage girls in Ardabil [35]. In a separate study, Knox interviewed married Palestinian adolescent girls in post-conflict settings in Lebanon to explore the decision making processes leading to early marriage [37]. “Low autonomy in decision-making,” namely “inappropriate decision-making skills,” “inadequate problem-solving skills,” “insufficient negotiation skills,” and “lack of critical-thinking skills,” were identified as contributing factors of early marriage influenced by psychosocial motivation. Participants believed that since they are young and immature, their decision-making and critical-thinking skills are limited, coupled with the lack of information on marriage and a reliable source of consultation, hence, arbitrarily relying on their parents to make decisions for them with regards to getting married. In wanting to become mature, some participants believed that marriage would enable them to be more mature and responsible. Although there were some participants who wished to delay marriage because of educational and career aspirations, the lack of negotiation skills resulted in them not being able to discuss their wishes with their parents, and eventually, being urged into getting married at an early age: “When my family suggested to get married, I cried all day because I was so young. I told my mother I don’t like to marry now. I was at first grade of high school at that time; I wanted to finish my education before getting married. But my parents were older than me and I could not convince them to accept my explanations” [38]. The theme of insufficient decision-making power was also mentioned in the study by Mardi et al. that analyzed how teenage women who got married at an early age describe their life after marriage, that the girls are deprived of their independence by their husband’s or family in law’s control even after the marriage: “…Marital life is very hard; cleaning the house, cooking, taking care of the baby, it is just unbearable. Sometimes I wish I was not married…” [35]. The subtlety of the girls’ emotions concerning autonomy was described by Knox in the sense that although the previous studies emphasize the lack of decision-making skills among the girls due to their parents’ strong influence, the married adolescent girls express that their decision to get married was not forcefully influenced by anyone, including their parents. From the girls’ perspective, they accepted and agreed to get married at an early age in consideration of their parents’ wishes: “I only agreed for one reason. I agreed because of the situation here, because I wanted to reduce the burden on my parents, because their economic situation is not good” [37]. Apart from skills, there are also desires and feelings. The participants described “social needs,” “emotional needs,” and “sexual needs” as other reasons for early marriage. On “social needs,” some viewed marriage as a route for a better living status/conditions, being able to gain respect from the husband’s family, to achieve peace of mind by escaping their own family’s stressful poor financial situation, and gaining independence from their own family. On “emotional needs” and “sexual needs,” the participants anticipated the “feeling of being loved” and believed that marriage was a way to satisfy their sexual needs to prevent premarital sex.

Influence of patriarchal ideology.

Some studies highlighted the issue of patriarchal ideology which influenced the decision of child marriage. This is a historically rooted problem, and such ideology is widely accepted among communities in Iran and Morocco as it functions as a powerful influence that places women in a submissive position to men [30, 33, 34, 38]. Because of this ideology, adolescent girls are satisfied by the decision of getting married at an early age as they submissively follow the decision made by their parents or the elder member of the family. The girls live in a society where gender and age discrimination prevail, thus the structures of the family and the society are stabilized by maintaining patriarchal ideology. In such a society, the voices of the elder member of the family are followed, in the name of respect. If a woman opposed her father’ order, she may face intimidation and ostracism from their families. It was reported that the authorities in charge of approving marriages, such as family court judges in Morocco, overruled the law and permitted child marriages, based on a patriarchal vision: “We deal with girls as young as 14, which is well below the minimum age stipulated in the Moudawana. Often there is an element of deceit: when girls look much older than their age, the judges don’t blink an eye” [34].

Threat to the social order and social protection.

In Morocco, Iran, and Afghanistan, an unmarried status was considered as a threat to the social order for women and men alike [30, 33, 34, 36, 38]. Therefore, marriage is encouraged regardless of age. This social norm exists because of the strong belief that the institution of marriage is important in maintaining sexual relations only within marriage. Sex outside marriage is illegal in such countries. It is strongly believed that if such illegal acts occur, there would be risk and chaos in the society. Similarly, in Lebanon, there was a strong belief among the Syrian refugees in the country that child marriage would bring social protection to the girls and lead to the preservation of a girl’s honor in a conflict setting. This concept was called “al Sutra” among the Syrian refugees in Lebanon, and this social norm was widely shared among parents of the girls as well as the community [31]. Keeping the girls’ and the family’ honor is extremely important that the girls and their family highly value maintaining the girl’s virginity until she gets married. However, in a conflict setting, there are usually unfavorable rumors about a girl’s chastity, and often a focus on sexual harassment by men, due to their vulnerability as refugees: “According to this research, war and displacement increased refugees’ sense of insecurity and vulnerability and their real and perceived risks of sexual harassment. Thus, they felt an increased need to protect their daughters and their family’s honor, and many parents opted for child marriage as a means of doing so” [31]. In Afghanistan, among the religious leaders, it was believed that child marriage can protect the girls from illegal behaviors such as premarital sex and prostitution; therefore, if girls get married early, the risk can be reduced: “Girls increase economic status via marriage. If no school [i.e., if they have received no education] and no marry, they may turn to prostitution” [36].

Engagement of children.

In some societies in the rural areas, there is a traditional practice of getting a child engaged at birth or during infancy. This is called “bad” or “badal” in Afghanistan, which refers to exchange of a child between the families or the communities in order to resolve conflict between them: “In our culture some girls are engaged at 2 years of age. Then her new family will wait for her for 8 or 9 more years; after that, they compel the family for marriage” (female NGO staff member) [36]. In this cultural context, the girls are being traded between the families in order to settle the disputes or to return the financial debts owed to the family to which they allow child engagement to. This is a deeply rooted traditional practice in Afghanistan, especially in the rural areas.