Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

ANTHROPOLOGY

Why daughters may choose early marriage

  • News & Views
  • Published:

From Nature Human Behaviour

View current issue Submit your manuscript

The causes of early marriage often remain unclear. A new study tests whether parental interests and coercion explain high rates of marriage for girls aged 15–18 in rural Tanzania. It finds that most brides choose their own partners and do not suffer harm to their physical or mental wellbeing later in life, and suggests alternative explanations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

References

  1. UNICEF. State of the World’s Children. https://www.unicef.org/sowc/ (2017).

  2. Save the Children. State of the World’s Mothers 2004. (Save the Children, Westport, CT, USA, 2004).

    Google Scholar 

  3. UNICEF. Ending Child Marriage: Progress and Prospects. (UNICEF, New York, 2014).

  4. Schaffnit, S., Hassan, A., Urassa, M. & Lawson, D. Parent–offspring conflict unlikely to explain ‘child marriage’ in northwestern Tanzania. Nat. Hum. Behav. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41562-019-0535-4 (2019).

  5. Archambault, C. Ethnographic empathy and the social context of rights: ‘rescuing’ Maasai girls from early marriage. Am. Anthropol. 113, 632–643 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Tanzanian Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children. National Survey on the Drivers and Consequences of Child Marriage in Tanzania. (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 2017).

  7. Stark, L. Poverty, consent, and choice in early marriage: ethnographic perspectives from urban Tanzania. Marriage Fam. Rev. 54, 565–581 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Mulumeoderhwa, M. ‘A girl who gets pregnant or spends the night with a man is no longer a girl’: forced marriage in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Sex. Cult. 20, 1042–1062 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Bunting, A., Lawrance, B. & Roberts, R. Introduction: something old, something new? Conceptualizing forced marriage in Africa. in Marriage by Force? Contestation over Consent and Coercion in Africa (eds. Bunting, A., Lawrance, B.N. & Roberts, R.) 1–42 (Ohio University Press, Athens, OH, USA, 2016).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Laura Stark.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Stark, L. Why daughters may choose early marriage. Nat Hum Behav 3, 325–326 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-019-0554-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-019-0554-1

  • Springer Nature Limited

Navigation