Journal
CURRENT OPINION IN OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY
Volume 23, Issue 5, Pages 334-339Publisher
LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS
DOI: 10.1097/GCO.0b013e32834a93d2
Keywords
developing countries; early marriage; infant and child health; sexual and reproductive consequences; young women
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Funding
- John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
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Purpose of review To review current evidence on the links between early marriage and health-related outcomes for young women and their children. Recent findings Every third young woman in the developing countries excluding China continues to marry as a child, that is before age 18. Recent studies reiterate the adverse health consequences of early marriage among young women and their children even after a host of confounding factors are controlled. The current evidence is conclusive with regard to many indicators: unintended pregnancy, pregnancy-related complications, preterm delivery, delivery of low birth weight babies, fetal mortality and violence within marriage. However, findings present a mixed picture with regard to many other indicators, the risk of HIV and the risk of neonatal, infant and early childhood mortality, for example. Summary The findings call for further examination of the health consequences of early marriage. What are even less clear are the pathways through which the associations between early marriage and adverse outcomes take place. There is a need for research that traces these links. At the same time, findings argue strongly for programmatic measures that delay marriage and recognize the special vulnerabilities of married adolescent girls.
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