Violence, Well-Being and Level of Participation in Formal Education among Adolescent Girls in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Role of Child Marriage

Bibliographic Data

ID12967325
AuthorsDan Landis (0000-0002-8564-7940, Columbia University, corresponding author), Kathryn Falb (0000-0001-8254-3364, International Rescue Committee), Ilaria Michelis (0000-0002-4773-9238), Theresita Bakomere (International Rescue Committee), Lindsay Stark (0000-0002-8775-9735, Washington University in St. Louis)
Year2018
Volume12
Issue2
Pages273-290
Publication date2018-12-29
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueStudies in Social Justice (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1911-4788 • E-ISSN: 1911-4788
PublisherBrock University Library (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.26522/ssj.v12i2.1632
OpenAlexW2907411134
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited17

Child marriage is a well-recognized barrier to education, and exposes girls to an increased risk of violence along with other negative health and developmental outcomes. A quantitative survey was conducted with girls selected from 14 communities in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Data from 350 girls (ages 13-14) were analyzed using mixed effects logistic regression models. Findings revealed that child marriage was associated with lower levels of participation in formal education as well as higher rates of physical, sexual and emotional violence. In particular, when adjusting for age and girls’ level of participation in formal education, being married was associated with more than a three-fold (OR: 3.23) increased risk of experiencing sexual violence (p<0.001). Married girls were also significantly more likely to affirm the belief that they would be forced to marry their perpetrator in the event that they were raped (p=0.017), suggesting that a portion of girls within this sample may have experienced this occurrence. Although higher levels of participation in formal education were associated with a reduced risk of violence among non-married girls, these differences were not observed for girls who were married. Findings reveal that child marriage has a significantly negative effect on the relationship between girls’ level of participation in formal education and experiences with violence. Taken cumulatively, findings from this study suggest an overall harmful relationship between child marriage and girls’ safety, education and well-being, and that efforts to prevent its occurrence in the DRC and beyond are urgently needed

Child marriage · Criminology · Democracy · Developmental psychology · Domestic violence · Environmental health · Formal education · Injury prevention · Logistic regression · Poison control · Political science · Politics · Population · Sexual violence · Sociology · Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health · Demography · Intimate Partner and Family Violence · Medicine · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare · Psychology

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