Challenging Norms and Perceptions on Child Marriage among Adolescent Girls in Indonesia: A Randomized Experiment
Summary & Objectives
The paper aimed to test whether an edutainment short film can improve perceptions about the costs and benefits of child marriage among adolescent girls and their parents in Indonesia. It also sought to compare a version that focused only on the risks of child marriage with a version that added alternative religious messages supporting girls’ education and delayed marriage, and to assess whether these interventions shift related social norms and agency.
Findings
The randomized trial with 261 schools in East and Central Java showed that both versions of the film improved girls’ overall perception index on the costs and benefits of child marriage, with effect sizes of about 0.11 and 0.19 standard deviations compared with the control group. The film on costs alone strengthened perceptions of the risks of child marriage and the benefits of delaying it but had limited effect on perceived benefits of marrying early, while the version with religious messages additionally reduced perceived benefits of child marriage and improved views on delaying marriage. Similar patterns were observed among parents, especially for perceptions of risks and the value of postponing marriage, whereas boys’ perceptions did not change, consistent with the intervention not being tailored to them. The combined package also modestly improved parents’ perceptions of norms and women’s agency, but had little effect on girls’ reported norms or agency.
Recommendations
The authors recommend using carefully designed edutainment campaigns as part of child marriage prevention strategies, with narratives built around relatable characters, explicit discussion of risks, and concrete benefits of delaying marriage. They argue that religious messaging can be a powerful complement when co-developed with trusted religious leaders to align progressive interpretations with community beliefs, but it should be used cautiously and contextually. They also suggest that programmes should target specific audiences, especially girls and parents, through settings such as schools and widely used digital platforms, and call for more research on how religious leaders, peer networks, and repeated exposure to such content can translate perceptual change into sustained behavioural change.
Share your research
You can share details of your ongoing and upcoming research to be included in the CRANKs online research tracker. By doing this, you are contributing to a coordinated, harmonised global research agenda.