State-level legal and sociodemographic correlates of child marriage rates in the United States

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2022.106798Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Internationally, child marriage is considered a violation of basic human rights.

  • Little research and policy discussion exists on child marriage in the United States.

  • In the United States, only 6 states have a legal marriage age minimum of 18 years.

  • Several sociodemographic factors correlate with state child marriage rates.

  • Setting a federal minimum age of 18 years is needed to eliminate child marriage.

Abstract

The United States and 193 other nations have pledged to end child marriage, which is widely considered a violation of basic human rights, by 2030 under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 5.3). Although there is a breadth of knowledge on child marriage in many low- and middle-income countries, little research and policy discussion exists surrounding child marriage within the United States. Using administrative data from several sources, this study examines how a range of different state-level variables, including political lean, academic performance, median household income, religiosity, population density, and median distance to an abortion clinic are related to variation in child marriage rates across states. Additionally, the study examines how minimum age requirements and other state laws, such as parental and judicial consent, are related to child marriage rates. Significant correlates of higher state-level child marriage rates in the United States included lower median state income, higher religiosity, lower academic performance, and more Republican political lean, whereas state minimum marriage age laws, median distance to an abortion clinic, population density, and state law loopholes were not significantly correlated with child marriage rates. Setting a federal minimum marriage age of 18 years would be necessary to eliminate child marriage in the United States.

Introduction

Against the backdrop of an equality-minded and rights-conscious international agenda, child marriage remains a pressing challenge in low-, middle-, and high-income countries alike. Also known as underage marriage, this phenomenon occurs when someone under the age of 18 is married to another person. Child marriage is considered by the United Nations Commission of Human Rights to be a violation of basic human rights. The United States pledged under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 5.3) to end child marriage by 2030 along with 193 other countries in a broader mission to achieve gender equality. Yet, despite the attention dedicated to reducing the number of child marriages across the world, the United States still has not eliminated marriage for youth under the age of 18. Only six states within the United States (Delaware, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island) have de-legalized child marriage and eliminated all exceptions (Equality Now, 2021). Although rates of child marriage are not as high as in some other parts of the world, it is important to understand what factors may drive child marriage in the United States and why it remains legal in nearly the entire country. This study addresses the question of what legal, policy, and sociodemographic factors are correlated with child marriage in the United States.

Worldwide, 12 million girls marry before the age of 18 every year, and over 650 million women alive today were married as children (Girls Not Brides, 2020). The nation with the highest prevalence of child marriage is the Republic of the Niger, where 76 percent of girls are married before their 18th birthday and 28 percent are married by age 15. In contrast, only 6 percent of boys are married before the age of 18, underscoring the oftentimes drastic imbalances between female and male experiences with child marriage. Other nations with high rates of child marriage include the Central African Republic, Chad, Bangladesh, Mali, and Mozambique, with rates for girls of 68, 67, 59, 54, and 53 percent, respectively. A study estimating global trends of child marriage that extrapolated data from 60 large low- and middle-income countries found that the average rate of child marriage for women aged 18–49 at the time of the study was 40.3 percent (Nguyen & Wodon, 2015). The study also found that the region with the highest overall rate is South Asia, where 45.4 percent of women were married before the age of 18. South Asia is followed by Sub-Saharan Africa, and then the Middle East and North Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, East Asia and the Pacific, and finally Europe and Central Asia. Although some changes have occurred between women born in the 1950s and in the 1980s, with a decrease in the absolute numbers of girls marrying early and an increase in the age at which they marry (albeit still below the age of 18), more progress still needs to be made as even today, more than 40 percent of girls in low- and middle-income countries marry before age 18 (Nguyen & Wodon, 2015).

Beyond decisions made within families for children to marry, child marriage is guided by legislative policies and judicial courts. Across the globe, nearly 100 million girls do not have effective legal protection against child marriage in their home countries (Wodon et al., 2017b). This is due to two main factors: lack of legal structures that disallow child marriage, and lack of enforcement of restrictions when they exist. An investigation in the Indonesian legal system found that when placed at the discretion of judges, rulings on child marriage cases often resulted in religious or customary laws favored over state and international law in a so-called attempt to ‘protect children’ from the social stigmas associated with pregnancy and sexual intercourse before marriage (Horii, 2020). This occurrence has a twofold impact: on one hand, some cultures so stigmatize sex outside of marriage that such an action could wreak havoc on girls’ futures if the marriage were not granted, but on the other hand, the continuance of these allowances further entrenches those stigmas and normalizes child marriage to the local community. The existence of legal exceptions often renders civil law provisions that ban child marriage ineffective. A study of laws surrounding child marriage in 191 countries found that marriage of girls below the age of 18 is only legally permitted in 23 countries, but is allowed in 99 countries after taking into account exceptions with parental or guardian consent (Arthur et al., 2018). The study concluded that with all exceptions considered, only 9 percent of countries actually enforce total marriage restrictions for girls under the age of 18. Countries with national data on child marriage that have a minimum legal age of 18 with no exceptions include Bhutan, Botswana, China, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Fiji, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Japan, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritania, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nepal, Nigeria, Panama, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Uganda, and Vietnam (Girls Not Brides, 2022).

Studies on the impact of child marriage have predominantly been conducted in low-and middle-income countries. These studies have concluded that child marriage is detrimental to girls’ physical health, mental health, and educational attainment. Physically, child marriage increases the risk for sexually transmitted infections, cervical cancer, obstetric fistulas, and maternal mortality in girls (Nour, 2009). Psychologically, child marriage is related to high levels of depression and anxiety (John et al., 2019). Work examining the mental health implications of child marriage in Africa found an association between child marriage and increased suicidal ideation and attempt among girls aged 10–17 years (Gage, 2013). In addition, child marriage decreases girls’ ability to pursue higher levels of education, limiting the accessibility of future opportunities and therefore granting husbands an even higher degree of power and influence over their young wife’s life (Lee-Rife et al., 2012). This is especially true when child marriage is driven largely by poverty, and parents decide to have their daughters marry in an effort to ensure their financial and social futures. The imbalance in control and lack of bargaining power married girls experience often remains a constant throughout the entire period of marriage, building an inherently dangerous situation for the minor that is associated with a wide range of negative impacts in terms of health, self-confidence, and happiness (Parsons et al., 2015). Child brides are at a higher risk of intimate partner violence, including threats of isolation and economic deprivation (McFarlane et al., 2016). These social implications underscore some of the most dangerous implications of child marriage, as the practice not only takes advantage of young brides as they enter into marriage but also makes it challenging for them to leave those unions.

Beyond the negative impacts of child marriage on children themselves, the practice has also been found to have detrimental effects on communities and society at large, manifesting at a local level in increased health risks for offspring of child marriages (Gage, 2013) and on a national and global scale in the form of lost economic potential and earnings and the intergenerational transmission of poverty (Parsons et al., 2015). A study conducted by the World Bank in partnership with the International Center for Research on Women estimated that ending child marriage would have large positive effects on increased educational attainment for girls and their children, decreases in the number of children women have (primarily through delaying childbirth), and increases in women’s expected earnings and overall household welfare (Wodon et al., 2017a). These effects would result in significant economic gains; through the lens of the 25 countries the study covered, the report found that by 2030, gains in annual welfare from lower population growth could reach more than $500 billion annually. The study also found large deadweight losses in terms of women’s earnings, as women who marry as children have, on average, earnings that are nine percent lower than if they had married later. This is largely due to the impact of child marriage on girls’ ability to stay in school and achieve higher levels of education. Finally, the report noted that ending child marriage would also reduce rates of mortality for children under the age of five and stunted physical development due to malnutrition. By 2030, the estimated global monetary benefits of lower under-five mortality and adequate nutrition could reach nearly $100 billion. Thus, it is evident that regardless of one’s nationality, child marriage is associated with negative outcomes for both the minors involved and the global community at large.

The 2016 U.S. State Department’s blueprint to empower adolescent girls globally listed reducing child, early, and forced marriage as a key goal, declaring it a clear abuse of human rights that has devastating repercussions on girls’ lives, effectively ending their childhoods (Reiss, 2017). Many Americans associate the practice of child marriage with traditions upheld by religious and cultural norms in low-income countries far from the United States. A study on public perceptions and knowledge surrounding child marriage found that the average American mistakenly believes that child marriage is illegal throughout the United States. (Lawson et al., 2020). Additionally, Americans often misunderstand its global prevalence, assigning the practice primarily to Muslim-majority world regions. Many survey participants also believed that the age threshold for the term “child” was far below the legal adult age of 18, likely as a result of awareness campaigns that depict incredibly young girls. Most Americans thought that the majority of child marriages occur under the age of 15, whereas in reality they are more common in late adolescence. These misconceptions can then perpetuate stereotypes that make it more difficult for advocates within the United States in their fight to de-legalize child marriage, as the American public does not fully gauge the extent to which this harmful practice exists in their own backyard. Research on child marriage within the United States is quite limited, which likely further confirms that it simply is not a pressing concern for most due to these misconceptions.

These misperceptions are further reinforced by the lack of knowledge on the current prevalence of child marriage in the United States, with only limited data available especially for the past few decades. A study analyzing 2010–2014 data from the American Community Survey found that approximately 6.2 of every 1,000 children surveyed had ever been married, with rates ranging from more than 10 per 1,000 in states such as West Virginia, Hawaii, and North Dakota to less than four per 1,000 in states including Maine, Rhode Island, and Wyoming (Koski & Heymann, 2018). The study also found that child marriage occurs at higher rates in girls than boys.

An estimated 297,033 children were married in the United States between 2000 and 2018, including 232,474 cases based on actual data plus 64,559 based on estimates (Unchained At Last, 2021). The vast majority (96 percent) of these cases of child marriage occurred among 16- and 17-year-olds, although there were cases among children as young as 10. Approximately 77 percent of child marriages occur between minor girls and adult men, including more than 20 percent of cases where the age gap is so significant that statutory rape laws would apply under state law, except the cover of marriage essentially acts as a “get out of jail free card” (Unchained At Last, 2021).

The current landscape of child marriage policy and law varies rather drastically across the globe, but it is generally characterized by similar threads of protection for children, such as minimum age requirements or parental and judicial consent. Likewise, the treatment of child marriage in the United States is not homogenous across states. Until 2018, child marriage was legal in every U.S. state, territory, and district. Since then, six states have banned child marriage outright, while the remaining 44 operate under a range of legal protections and guidelines, with some setting minimum ages, requiring parental and/or judicial consent, or offering exceptions for pregnancy or emancipated youth (Equality Now, 2021). Eleven states still do not have an “age floor,” meaning that a child of any age can be married if an exception is met. Only 13 states require all minors to receive judicial approval prior to the issuance of a marriage license, and even some of the states that do require judicial approval are in reality little more than a facade of accountability, as judges do not necessarily question or even meet with the minor before signing off on the marriage (Tahirih Justice Center, 2021). Although one might assume that states with more restrictive laws likely also have fewer cases of child marriages, the relation between legal restrictions and child marriage rates has not been studied empirically.

Child marriage remains a rather limited and low priority item on the legislative agenda in many states and on the federal level in the United States. Marriage laws are largely determined on a state-by-state basis. Twelve states currently have bills pending, but many are stalled or have been watered down to much less effective versions of their initial forms (Unchained at Last, 2021). Additionally, a 2019 federal bill to set a minimum age of 18 to reduce immigration-related incentives of child marriage failed to gain the traction necessary to pass both houses of Congress.

Child marriage is often connected to financial, cultural, and religious factors, as well as with gender inequalities (Klugman et al., 2014). In some low-income countries, many families see child marriage as the only viable pathway for their daughters as they grow into women and leave their parental homes as a result of having few educational and work opportunities for them to pursue, as well as inability of parents to invest in alternative options. Internationally, girls in rural areas have higher rates of child marriage than girls in urban areas, which tend to offer more educational and economic opportunities (Rumble et al., 2018). A meta-synthesis of twelve studies largely focused on child marriage in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia identified six main themes relating to the incidence of child marriage: human insecurity and conflict; legal issues; family values and circumstances; religious beliefs; individual circumstances, beliefs, and knowledge; and social norms (Kohno et al., 2020). These findings highlight the prevalence of complex and interconnected underlying drivers that allow child marriage to continue to flourish despite increasing global recognition of its harmful effects.

Previous research suggests that key intervention targets to prevent child marriage are education, support networks, and economic incentives. In particular, interventions are most successful when they simultaneously empower girls with the information and skills they need to achieve higher levels of independence and understand their options as well as provide support networks that have girls’ best interests at heart (Parsons et al., 2015). One effective avenue to this end is to mandate that girls stay in school, which has been found to reduce both the occurrences of child marriage and the health consequences it engenders (Nour, 2009). The Berhane Hewan project is an example that illustrates many of these ideas, as the two-year pilot conducted in rural Ethiopia used a three-pronged intervention that included a combination of group formation, support for girls to remain in school, and community awareness. The approach was associated with considerable improvements in school enrollment, age at marriage, and reproductive health knowledge and contraceptive use, indicating an all-around shift in locus of control to the minor through those empowerment tactics (Erulkar & Muthengi, 2009). Another successful approach in low-income countries is the use of conditional cash transfers, where families receive a cash supplement in exchange for keeping their daughters unmarried and in school. Especially in instances where child marriage is linked to poverty and securing relative economic stability for daughters and their families, cash transfers have been found to be one of the most effective tools in curbing child marriage. Given UNICEF’s (2016) State of the World’s Children report finding that girls from the poorest households face twice the risk of being married before turning 18 as those from the richest households, it is evident that this strategy is particularly helpful in cases where child marriage is linked to poverty. A systematic review of studies published from 2000 to 2019 on tactics to prevent child marriage in low- and middle-income countries found that interventions that support girls' education through cash or in-kind transfers show the clearest pattern of success in preventing child marriage (Malhotra & Elnakib, 2021).

In the context of the United States, some of the associations between occurrences of child marriage and poverty, religious and cultural customs, and societal norms may not be quite as strong. We still know relatively little about the drivers of child marriage in the United States. Anecdotal U.S. cases suggest that some of the main drivers include cultural or religious traditions, including money (a bride price or dowry), a desire for parents to control their child’s behavior or sexuality, and immigration-related reasons, such as when a child sponsors a foreign spouse (Reiss, 2017). There are also some minors who choose to marry of their own volition, which raises the question of whether children should be able to make such a high-stake decision, given their inability to do so in many other realms of life such as voting or even alcohol consumption.

Although some methods of preventing child marriage that have been successful in low- and middle-income countries may not translate directly into an American context, the underlying principle remains clear: Reforms of the legal and policy framework are necessary, but they are only a part of the answer and alone are insufficient to fully address the nature of this challenge (Lee-Rife et al., 2012). Rather, they need to be paired with awareness and educational campaigns that inform minors of their options and support networks to empower and return agency over their lives to them. Yet, as the United States continues to combat child marriage, an increased understanding of the barriers that exist in passage of legislation is an important first step in crafting an effective strategy to diminish child marriages. Only with a strong grasp of both the social and political lenses through which this practice operates can true reform occur.

The present study aims to build a stronger understanding of the prevalence and correlates of child marriage in the United States. Using administrative data from several sources, this study examines how a range of different state-level variables are related to variation in child marriage rates across states. We hypothesize that state-level (1) conservative political lean, (2) lower academic performance, (3) lower median income, (4) more religiosity, (5) lower population density (i.e., rurality), and (6) farther distance to an abortion clinic will be related to higher state-wide child marriage rates. We also hypothesize that states that (7) do not have a minimum legal age for marriage and that (8) have more legal loopholes to child marriage will have higher rates of child marriage.

Section snippets

Material and methods

Three administrative data sets were used to determine state-by-state child marriage rates. First, the 2019 American Community Survey (ACS) from the Pew Research Center provides information on the estimated percentage of females and males between the ages of 15 and 19 who are married, widowed, divorced, separated, and never married. The 2019 data are the latest available, and the data only stratify into 15–19, so there is an upward bias in the numbers of child marriages (as child marriage is

Descriptive statistics

Table 2 provides means and standard deviations of all variables. All four child marriage rates are calculated as a per capita value and therefore are very small. The female and male ACS rates are on average larger than the Frontline and Unchained rates because the ACS rates include marriages of 18- and 19-year-olds in addition to younger children. The minimum age for marriage variable indicates an average minimum marriage age of 14.61, with a standard deviation of nearly 5. The mean political

Discussion

Through an examination of potential correlates of child marriage, this study advances understanding of the current landscape of child marriage in the United States. Given the dearth of research on child marriage in the United States and the challenges for activists seeking to abolish child marriage through policy action, these findings provide insight into child marriage in the United States and how it may differ from or resemble child marriage in other nations. Significant correlates of higher

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Anna Jiang: Conceptualization, Methodology, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft. Jennifer E. Lansford: Supervision, Writing – review & editing.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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