Postdoctoral Scholar, University of California, Los Angeles, Fielding School of Public Health.
Dean, University of California, Los Angeles, Fielding School of Public Health.
Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 2018 Jun;50(2):59-65. doi: 10.1363/psrh.12055. Epub 2018 Apr 17.
Marriage before the age of 18, commonly referred to as child marriage, is legal under varying conditions across the United States. The prevalence of child marriage among recent cohorts is unknown.
American Community Survey data for 2010-2014 were used to estimate the average national and state-level proportions of children who had ever been married. Prevalence was calculated by gender, race and ethnicity, and birthplace, and the living arrangements of currently married children were examined.
Approximately 6.2 of every 1,000 children surveyed had ever been married. Prevalence varied from more than 10 per 1,000 in West Virginia, Hawaii and North Dakota to less than four per 1,000 in Maine, Rhode Island and Wyoming. It was higher among girls than among boys (6.8 vs. 5.7 per 1,000), and was lower among white non-Hispanic children (5.0 per 1,000) than among almost every other racial or ethnic group studied; it was especially high among children of American Indian or Chinese descent (10.3 and 14.2, respectively). Immigrant children were more likely than U.S.-born children to have been married; prevalence among children from Mexico, Central America and the Middle East was 2-4 times that of children born in the United States. Only 20% of married children were living with their spouses; the majority of the rest were living with their parents.
Child marriage occurs throughout the country. Research on the social forces that perpetuate child marriage is needed to inform efforts to prevent it.
在美国，18 岁以下结婚，通常被称为童婚，在不同条件下是合法的。最近几代人中童婚的流行程度尚不清楚。
使用 2010-2014 年美国社区调查数据来估计全国和各州曾经结婚的儿童的平均比例。根据性别、种族和民族以及出生地计算流行率，并检查目前已婚儿童的生活安排。
大约每 1000 名被调查的儿童中就有 6.2 人曾经结婚。流行率从西弗吉尼亚州、夏威夷州和北达科他州的每 1000 人中有 10 多人到缅因州、罗得岛州和怀俄明州的每 1000 人中有不到 4 人不等。女孩的比例高于男孩（每 1000 人中有 6.8 比 5.7），白人非西班牙裔儿童的比例低于几乎所有其他研究的种族或族裔群体（每 1000 人中有 5.0）；其中美国印第安人或华裔儿童的比例尤其高（分别为 10.3 和 14.2）。移民儿童比美国出生的儿童更有可能结婚；来自墨西哥、中美洲和中东的儿童的流行率是美国出生儿童的 2-4 倍。只有 20%的已婚儿童与配偶同住；其余大部分与父母同住。
童婚发生在全国各地。需要研究延续童婚的社会力量的研究，以告知预防童婚的努力。
