Should we care: a qualitative exploration of the factors that influence the decision of early marriage among young men in urban slums of Bangladesh

Objectives To explore how adolescent and young men negotiate the complex realities of lives to explain their pathways into and reasons for early marriage in urban slums of Bangladesh.Design The qualitative data used here came from a larger 3-year study that used both quantitative and qualitative res...

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Main Authors: Sabina Faiz Rashid, Subas Chandra Biswas, Shuchi Karim
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMJ Publishing Group 2020-10-01
Series:BMJ Open
Online Access:https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/10/e039195.full
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author Sabina Faiz Rashid
Subas Chandra Biswas
Shuchi Karim
author_facet Sabina Faiz Rashid
Subas Chandra Biswas
Shuchi Karim
author_sort Sabina Faiz Rashid
collection DOAJ
description Objectives To explore how adolescent and young men negotiate the complex realities of lives to explain their pathways into and reasons for early marriage in urban slums of Bangladesh.Design The qualitative data used here came from a larger 3-year study that used both quantitative and qualitative research methods.Setting Interviews were conducted in two of the largest slums in Dhaka and Chittagong city of Bangladesh between December 2015 and March 2018.Participants This paper uses qualitative data from 22 in-depth interviews (IDIs) and three focus group discussions (FGDs) with adolescent and young men aged 15–24 years; 13 IDIs and 4 FGDs with parents and 11 key-informant interviews with community leaders. The purposively selected respondents were interviewed in their respective settings.Results In the context of urban slums, this study revealed multiple factors influence early marriage decision-making processes among young men. These factors include socially perceived phenomenon of adulthood and readiness of marriage, poverty leading to drop out from schools and early initiation to earning livelihood, manifestations of increasing individual aspiration and agency, fulfilment of romance and erotic desires and dreams of forming one’s own family. In addition, parental and immediate societal interference to preserve norms around gender and society can act as catalysts for this decision.Conclusions Study findings imply that complex structural factors, social and gender norms that are contributing to the early marriage for both adolescent boys and young men in Bangladesh’s urban slums. These are locations where conservatism, poverty and urbanisation intersect resulting in early and often unprepared entry to adulthood for young men impacting on their development and well-being. It is, therefore, critical that young men should be included in the national and global conversations around child marriage and child marriage prevention programme.
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spelling doaj-art-dbfa435350fa4960bb6cefa9b917750d2024-11-16T15:00:09ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552020-10-01101010.1136/bmjopen-2020-039195Should we care: a qualitative exploration of the factors that influence the decision of early marriage among young men in urban slums of BangladeshSabina Faiz Rashid0Subas Chandra Biswas1Shuchi Karim2BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Dhaka, BangladeshBRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Dhaka, BangladeshBRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Dhaka, BangladeshObjectives To explore how adolescent and young men negotiate the complex realities of lives to explain their pathways into and reasons for early marriage in urban slums of Bangladesh.Design The qualitative data used here came from a larger 3-year study that used both quantitative and qualitative research methods.Setting Interviews were conducted in two of the largest slums in Dhaka and Chittagong city of Bangladesh between December 2015 and March 2018.Participants This paper uses qualitative data from 22 in-depth interviews (IDIs) and three focus group discussions (FGDs) with adolescent and young men aged 15–24 years; 13 IDIs and 4 FGDs with parents and 11 key-informant interviews with community leaders. The purposively selected respondents were interviewed in their respective settings.Results In the context of urban slums, this study revealed multiple factors influence early marriage decision-making processes among young men. These factors include socially perceived phenomenon of adulthood and readiness of marriage, poverty leading to drop out from schools and early initiation to earning livelihood, manifestations of increasing individual aspiration and agency, fulfilment of romance and erotic desires and dreams of forming one’s own family. In addition, parental and immediate societal interference to preserve norms around gender and society can act as catalysts for this decision.Conclusions Study findings imply that complex structural factors, social and gender norms that are contributing to the early marriage for both adolescent boys and young men in Bangladesh’s urban slums. These are locations where conservatism, poverty and urbanisation intersect resulting in early and often unprepared entry to adulthood for young men impacting on their development and well-being. It is, therefore, critical that young men should be included in the national and global conversations around child marriage and child marriage prevention programme.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/10/e039195.full
spellingShingle Sabina Faiz Rashid
Subas Chandra Biswas
Shuchi Karim
Should we care: a qualitative exploration of the factors that influence the decision of early marriage among young men in urban slums of Bangladesh
BMJ Open
title Should we care: a qualitative exploration of the factors that influence the decision of early marriage among young men in urban slums of Bangladesh
title_full Should we care: a qualitative exploration of the factors that influence the decision of early marriage among young men in urban slums of Bangladesh
title_fullStr Should we care: a qualitative exploration of the factors that influence the decision of early marriage among young men in urban slums of Bangladesh
title_full_unstemmed Should we care: a qualitative exploration of the factors that influence the decision of early marriage among young men in urban slums of Bangladesh
title_short Should we care: a qualitative exploration of the factors that influence the decision of early marriage among young men in urban slums of Bangladesh
title_sort should we care a qualitative exploration of the factors that influence the decision of early marriage among young men in urban slums of bangladesh
url https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/10/e039195.full
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