Child Grooms: Understanding the Drivers of Child Marriage for Boys

Purpose: Relatively little is known about the factors associated with child, early, and forced marriage (CEFM) for boys. This brief explores potential economic, social, and demographic drivers of CEFM for boys, highlighting the role of gendered social norms. Methods: Forty-two indicators related to CEFM were drawn from a combination of Demographic and Health Survey and publicly available national-level data and associations with CEFM presented in scatterplots with a linear regression line. Results: CEFM for boys is consistently associated with economic factors related to readiness to marry, including overall labor force participation, the proportion of boys who are not in school, and youth unemployment. Conclusions: Patriarchal norms regulating sexual and reproductive behavior influence CEFM for boys through pressures to marry as soon as economic independence is achieved. This perpetuates cycles of poverty and locks boys into unfavorable life course pathways. (C) 2022 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Automated summary

This study explores the factors associated with child, early, and forced marriage (CEFM) for boys, highlighting the economic, social, and demographic drivers. The findings suggest that economic factors related to readiness for marriage, as well as social norms, play a significant role in CEFM for boys.