BUS 302: Research Methods in Business and Management

Project 1
Summer 2023
Submitted: July 20, 2023

Submitted To:
Md. Mizanur Rahman, PhD
Assistant Professor
Brac Business School
Brac University

Submitted By:
Group 1, Section 3
Seria Student Name G-suite Email Address Contribution
l ID
1 21204228 Nahurira nahurira.innocent@g.bracu.ac.bd Abstract
Innocent
2 19304073 Shariar Ahmad shariar.ahmad.hridoy@g.bracu.ac.bd Introduction
Hridoy
3 20104007 Taufiq taufiq.ishtiaque@g.bracu.ac.bd Background
Ishtiaque
4 19304083 Rikfat Karim rikfat.karim.prapty@g.bracu.ac.bd Background
Prapty
5 16104053 Rubab rubab.abdullah@g.bracu.ac.bd Methodology
Abdullah
6 17104200 Nadia Shoaib nadia.shoaib.eram@g.bracu.ac.bd Results and
Eram Discussion
7 19104013 Shusmita shusmita.rownok@g.bracu.ac.bd Recommendations
Rownok and Conclusion
 The Impact of Early Marriages and Divorces on the Adolescent
Mental Health: A Comparative Study in the Third World Countries

Abstract:
“The Impact of Early Marriages and Divorces on Adolescent Mental Health: A Comparative Study
in Third World Countries.” This paper mainly discusses the above-mentioned topic, examining the
detailed repercussions that early marriages and divorces have had and still have on the mental
health of adolescents, most especially those living in developing countries. Prior to carrying out this
research, we specifically and intentionally selected the developing countries as our context because
after a brainstorm from the group members and a few consultations, we came to a consensus that
this challenge was mostly faced in the developing countries, although the developed ones also have
some cases but not severely and largely affected as the developing ones. For that matter therefore,
we found out that it could be an interesting and resourceful area of research that could probably
yield meaningful results.

This is evidenced by the percentages of early marriages shown in the results and discussions part of
this paper, and they are as follows briefly, according to UNICEF as cited in Child Marriage - Plan
International, (2023),
● South Asia - 30%
● North Africa - 17%
● Sub Saharan Africa - 38% (being the highest)
● Latin America and the Caribbean - 25% .

Now, incorporating evidence from reviews, diaries and personal correspondence(from our
peers/fellow students who are married and have some ideas about marriage), this paper bespeaks
and argues that early marriages and divorces have indeed negatively impacted the adolescents in a
way that there is a high mental disorder, higher levels of depression, distress, some physical
violence, anxiety, frustration, anger, to mention but a few, compared to appropriate on-time
marriages whose divorce rates and their implications on the victims were a bit manageable and easy
to cope with.
All this is predominantly as a result of not or less educated parents who like to marry off their
daughters when they are still minors. This may be due to high levels of poverty or their ignorance of
the outcomes of early marriages.

Introduction:

Early marriages and divorces have been a significant concern because of their potential
consequences on adolescent mental health. Early marriage affects the mental health of an individual
before the legal age of consent. This practice has other effects if the relationship doesn’t work out in
the future and the result will be divorce. In this research paper, we tried to explore the surrounding
of this issue, specifically in third-world countries.

Early marriage is any kind of formal or informal union between two children under the age of 18 or
one is under the age of 18 with an adult. This issue is very serious in third-world countries like
Senegal, Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia, etc. because of poor economic conditions, cultural traditions,
a continued cycle of poverty, and limited access to education. In these countries people have a
number of children as a result they can’t bear the needed costs of a child which is a big reason for
early marriage. After getting married these adolescents have to face physical, emotional,
psychological, and social challenges. On the other hand, if the couple gets divorced, their
surroundings keep them under pressure which negatively affects their mental health. Early marriage
and divorce increase the adolescent’s depression, anxiety, low self-confidence and affects the
culture and society. Therefore, it is a big concern for the mental health of adolescents.

In summary, this research paper describes the complex relationship between early marriages,
divorces, and adolescent mental health in third-world countries. After a comparative analysis, we
will be able to know the challenges faced by adolescents. The only reason behind choosing this
topic is to find out the issues of early marriage and divorce and also to contribute to global efforts
who are trying to improve the lives and the future of young individuals affected by early marriage
and divorce in third-world countries.
Background:

Early marriages are widely defined around the world as the union of a male or female under the age
of 18 and it is one of the prevalent issues that plagues the third world countries the most due to their
culture, socioeconomic factors, gender norms. Although there are many researches detailing the
main reasons or motivations that result in early marriages or the physical consequences of early
marriages, there are few researches that explore its effect on the mental health of the children. As
such, this research paper investigates the impact of early marriage on the mental health of
adolescents. It should be noted that the term “Adolescent” is used to define the partners in marriage
(i.e: the husband and the wife) as one of them or both is underaged.

Early marriages especially affect the mental health of the female partner which in consequence
leads to pessimism, depression and suicidal tendencies, especially in sub continents like Sub-
Saharan Africa that houses third world countries like Senegal, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Guinea etc
(Petroni et al., 2017; Efevbera & Farmer, 2021). According to Aggarwal et al. (2023), Same type of
results can be found in the early marriage brides of the south Asian countries (e.g: Bihar of India).
In addition, almost 20% of them suffer from emotional abuse from their partners. These effects
intensify when the said woman gives birth to children.

Moreover, not only early marriage but also divorces can lead to mental health issues and can cause
depression, anxiety, confidence issues, self-esteem issues, and so on. According to Horwitz et al.
(1996); Simon (2002), as cited in Trichal (2021), Men and women both suffer from divorces but it
says that women are more vulnerable than men so they suffer a lot more economically and mentally
than men. According to the same researcher, financial crisis, social acceptance and not getting
proper support can be the causes of suffering. Many women try to end their lives just to avoid those
issues or continue a stressful unhappy marriage which causes severe mental health problems. Even
after divorces, emotional strains caused by the early marriages are carried into the adult lives of the
divorcee women that further prevents them from re marriage or from living happily. Rather, they
live in shame and fear because of their experiences (Efevbera & Farmer, 2021). Divorces also leave
adverse effects permanently in the children’s minds and life. It affects their mental health and
education in a certain way that can lead them to disasters and make them mentally vulnerable as
well. Mostly older children and their education life get affected more than younger children.
Divorce generally does not negatively affect the education system of the children who were younger
at the time when their parents divorced. The impact of divorce on the education of young children,
particularly those aged 3-5 years, is a multifaceted subject influenced by factors such as age at the
time of divorce, parental involvement, and post-divorce environment. Researches suggest that
younger children in this age group may be less likely to experience significant negative academic
consequences compared to their older counterparts when their parents divorce. Their limited
cognitive development, adaptability, and propensity for resilience, together with supportive
parenting post-divorce, could operate as buffers against considerable detrimental consequences on
their academic performance (Amato, 2010; Fabricius & Luecken, 2007). However, it's vital to
realise the individual variety in children's responses to divorce and the potential for changes in this
understanding through time.

Methodology:
The purpose of this study is to find the impact of early marriages on the psychological health of the
young parents. For this research the approach we have taken is to study recent scientific literature
on the topic and collect information for them to reach a conclusion. For our purposes, we have
limited ourselves to secondary research and no primary research was performed. The study is
qualitative in nature.

As for the procedure of the research, we performed literature reviews of scientific papers, namely
reputed journals and institutional publications. We primarily used online resources, such as the
search engine Google Scholar, Journal publisher Elsevier etc. to collect the relevant documents for
the research. The relevant keywords that were used were “early marriages in developing countries
and their mental effect on the adolescents”. We collected documents that were published in the last
five years as the goal is to find recent studies for more relevance.

The selection criteria for the research papers that were used are as follows:
 The topic of the research paper must be related to early marriages and their effect on the
mental health of the adolescents.
 The publication must be within the last five years
 The location of the research must be within a third world country
 The paper must be of high quality and credibility

To determine the quality and credibility of the research papers, we looked up the Scimago ranking
on the same website for each document that was collected.
The procedure for extracting the relevant information was studying the relevant documents and
group discussion. We gathered the information and synthesized the conclusion from our
understanding of the collected data.

The participants of this study included the students who worked on the research paper. No outside
participation was necessary.

Limitations of the study:

 No field research or primary research was performed. Therefore, there was no survey or
questionnaire that was used for collecting data.

Results and Discussion:

Researchers found that early marriages became the global problem of many different countries,
cultures, religious and ethnicities. Around twelve million girls get marry before the age of 18 which
results almost one child bride in every two seconds. According to UNICEF, 30% of the girls in
South Asia experience early marriage, 25% in Latin America and the Caribbean, 17% in the Middle
East and North Africa, and 11% in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Early marriage and forced
marriage are highest in Sub-Saharan Africa where 38% of girls become child brides (Child
Marriage - Plan International, 2023). As for the boys this rate is quite low as, according to Islam et
al. (2021), 4.5% of the boys around the world are married before they are 18 years old.

An example of the alarming rate of early marriages in the third world country can be the research
done by Saleheen et al. (2021) where they geographically demonstrated the rate of early marriages
in Bangladesh, Ghana, and Iraq. The research was divided into three categories red, orange and
green. Bangladesh was categorized into districts whereas Ghana and Iraq were divided by regions.
In (Figure A), the occurrence of early marriages in Bangladesh showed red (>1000), orange (501–
1000), and green (<500). A large number of early marriages occurred in the district of the red zone
which included Dhaka, Chattogram, Cumilla and Bogura. Likewise, in (Figure B), Ghana had three
different regions which showed red (>500), orange (101–500), and green (<100). The great
numbers of early marriages were in Ghana and Ashanti considered as red zones. However, the
highest occurrence early marriages were less compared to Bangladesh. On the other hand,
occurrences of early marriages in Iraq showed in (Figure C) red (>700), orange (301–700), and
green (<300). Baghdad noted as red zone for the highest occurrences of early marriages but still it
was lower than Bangladesh.
Figure 1: Geographical Demonstration of Early Marriages in Bangladesh, Ghana and Iraq

According to Saleheen et al. (2021), early marriages also lead to high mental disorder compared to
on-time married women. Some evidence refers that woman who marries early before the age of 18
suffers from higher level of depression, distress and more physical violence. Early marriages
happen due to lack of education and economic hardships, it is mostly common among lower
socioeconomic background. Even lower educated parents like to marry off their children early.

Furthermore, social perspective refers that early marriages lead to early divorces due to marital
conflicts, doubts, spousal abuse and domestic violence. Marriages are sharing life together with love
and respect. Individuals must be aware that a marriage comes with responsibility but young adults
who are forced to marry early may not have the understanding of those roles and responsibilities as
they are not mature enough to realize it. They may also face the compatibility issue and for this
reason, young couple argues with each other which creates distress in the marriage and that lead to
divorce after couple of years.

However, conflicts among individuals create anxiety, frustration, anger and other psychological and
emotional disturbance which force people to choose their separate ways. Divorce is not always
easy; it has a great impact on the emotions of both the individuals. Recently, Africa also faces the
increase rate of divorces for westernization and globalization (Adeniran Olaniyi, 2015, as cited in
Trichal 2021). As researchers found that conflicts in early marriages happen due to lack of
emotional support, spousal rejection, infidelity, abuse etc. On the other hand, some result shows that
different countries have different culture, norms, values and religion. All of this plays a vital role in
terms of divorce, sometimes it forbids people to get divorce and for that individual suffer either
mentally or physically. In the process of divorce cultural impact damages, the mental health of the
individuals. They already have been in the early marriage yet suffering more for cultural issue to get
divorce.

The effect of divorce on young adults’ mental health causes unhappiness, emotional disturbance and
stress due to change in economic status. If the young have children, then divorce affects them
mostly. The studies show that children from divorced parents get no proper education, has
behavioral problems and emotional turbulence. Healthy upbringing is necessary for children which
includes both the parents. The impact of divorce increases the risk of mental and physical health of
adults. Research reveals that divorce damage the men’s health but not women’s as it increases
alcohol intake and tobacco use among men. On the other hand, the increase rate of smoking and
loss of weight noticed among young women. There are some findings which state that women
psychologically more vulnerable than man when they go through from divorce. Some of the young
women who has less educational background suffers from economic crisis, low standard of living
and mental health problems as they usually depended on their partner’s support. Many researchers
argue that man suffers more than women at times of marital dissolution. (Williams and Umberson
2004; Wu and Hart 2002; Rydzewski 2010 and Umberson 1992; Horwitz et al. 1996; Simon 2002;
as cited in Trichal 2021).

Additionally, a study based on gender refers that young woman who suffers from divorce has lower
mental health status compared to men in all sphere of life. They have psychological trauma which
brings poor psychological well-being (Sara Symoens et.al., 2017; Kaneez, 2015, as cited in Trichal,
2021).It not only impact on emotional basis but also disturbs their behavioral action. The most
common mental health disorder is eating disorder and it the major outcome of divorce. It also
effects the individual social integration as participating in social gathering may feel burdensome
and stressful.

The results of this study suggest that challenges of early marriages and divorce have direct impact
on the well-being of mental health of individuals. Almost all of the studies revealed correlation with
depression, anxiety, stress, anger and feeling of loneliness. However, it is very important to promote
education among young women to reduce the rate of early marriages and the risk of mental
disorder. Improving cultural condition and empowering girls and their families in various areas may
help to reduce the rate of early marriages and its negative consequences.

Recommendations and Conclusion:

Throughout the entire research, it is clearly found that how early marriages and divorces are
creating vulnerable effects on the adolescent mind directly. Though now some of the countries are
trying to develop the situation by stopping the practice of early marriage culture but it is not the
only thing that can erase this issue completely. In addition, as it is also mentioned in the research
already that the rate of these early marriages and divorces are alarming in developing countries of
Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. There are few steps which can help to reduce the percentage of
early marriages and divorces to save adolescent future.

Firstly, Higher education for both boys and girls should be affordable in the developing countries
because in most of the cases parents are not able to afford higher education cost for their children
and tries to make them settle by giving their marriage in little better families than them. Secondly,
building established career for both male and female should be normalized in these under
developing countries. Thirdly, for the unprivileged & uneducated people, there should be affordable
training center from where they can get trained and be able to earn their livelihood so that for
getting some shelter and food no one has to choose early marriage as an option. Fourthly, From the
beginning of general education, the consequences of early age marriages and the cons behind it
should be taught among student. Lastly, education institutes should organize mandatory seminars
for guardians of every student where they can get ideas of why their child should not get married
before establishing their career and how badly early marriage effects the adolescent’s physicality
and mentality.

To conclude, as a global concern, early marriages and divorces practice is not only hampering the
adolescent's life but also lagging an entire country's future behind as today’s adolescents are the
future of the nation if they fall down before blooming, then the future of that nation will be in a dire
state.
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