Child marriage and its consequences for adolescent mental health in conflict-affected contexts: evidence from Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Jordan

Summary & Objectives

This study examines how child marriage affects adolescent girls’ mental health in conflict-affected settings, drawing on mixed-methods data from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Jordan. Using survey and qualitative data from 8,567 adolescents and young people aged 15-24, the study aims to assess differences in psychological distress, depression, resilience, and access to social support between girls married before 18 and their never-married peers. The objective is to fill a major evidence gap on the mental health consequences of child marriage, particularly in humanitarian contexts.

Results

Girls who married before 18 experience significantly higher levels of emotional distress and depression and substantially lower resilience than never-married girls across all three settings. These outcomes are driven by intense social isolation, restricted mobility, loss of education, limited peer and adult support, and high exposure to intimate partner violence. Conflict and displacement compound these risks, but girls’ accounts emphasise household-level control, abuse, and isolation as the most immediate sources of psychological harm. The findings show that child marriage produces long-lasting mental health risks that persist beyond adolescence.

Recommendations

The study calls for a shift beyond prevention-only approaches toward direct support for ever-married girls, including those now in adulthood. Programmes should prioritise safe spaces, psychosocial support, peer connection, and re-entry pathways to education or livelihoods, alongside services addressing intimate partner violence. Interventions must also engage husbands and in-laws to reduce control and violence, particularly in conflict-affected settings where girls’ mobility is already constrained. Strengthening the evidence base through longitudinal mental health data disaggregated by marital status is essential to inform effective policy and programming.