The Enduring Influence of Child Marriage on Women's Health

Child marriage is a significant global issue, affecting approximately 650 million women and girls worldwide. Studies have highlighted the harmful effects of child marriage on women's education, reproductive health, and mental well-being. However, the extant literature has predominantly assessed the implications of child marriage on young women by focusing on the short- or medium-term consequences of this transition. Child marriage can expose women to various stressors that can be long-lasting and severe. Research shows that chronic stress caused by persistent hardships can lead to physiological wear and tear, resulting in chronic diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. Leveraging this research and the life course approach, I developed a framework that linked child marriage with chronic stress and cumulative disadvantage, which, in turn, led to worsened health outcomes in mid- and later life.

My first article on the topic analysed the nationally representative India Human Development Survey (2011–12) and found that early marriage among women, defined as marriage at or before 18 years of age, was associated with worse self-rated health, higher functional limitations, and a higher likelihood of self-reported non-communicable disease (a composite indicator for hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease) (Vikram, 2021). Additionally, using longitudinal data, I found that early marriage was associated with worsened self-reported health, the development of functional limitations and chronic diseases over the two waves of the survey (ibid). In a second study using the Indian Demographic and Health Survey (2015–2016), which provided biomarkers for blood pressure and blood glucose, my co-authors and I found that child marriage and early motherhood, a consequence of child marriage, increased the odds of hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, asthma, and thyroid disease (Vikram, Visaria, and Ganguly, 2023). Furthermore, we found that the association between child marriage and hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease was partially mediated by early motherhood.

There is growing recognition that women in low- and middle-income countries grapple with a disproportionate burden of non-communicable chronic diseases and associated mortality. These studies draw attention to an under-recognised risk factor in shaping women's health in disadvantaged contexts and showcase the enduring effects of early disadvantages.

Further Readings:

Vikram, Kriti. 2021. Early Marriage and Health among Women at Midlife: Evidence from India. Journal of Marriage and Family, 83(5): 1480-1501.

Vikram, Kriti, Abhijit Visaria and Dibyashree Ganguly. 2023. Child Marriage as a Risk Factor for Non-communicable Diseases Among Women in India. International Journal of Epidemiology, 52(5): 1303-1315.