BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
BMJ Open. 2020 Oct 26;10(10):e039195. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-039195.
To explore how adolescent and young men negotiate the complex realities of lives to explain their pathways into and reasons for early marriage in urban slums of Bangladesh.
The qualitative data used here came from a larger 3-year study that used both quantitative and qualitative research methods.
Interviews were conducted in two of the largest slums in Dhaka and Chittagong city of Bangladesh between December 2015 and March 2018.
This paper uses qualitative data from 22 in-depth interviews (IDIs) and three focus group discussions (FGDs) with adolescent and young men aged 15-24 years; 13 IDIs and 4 FGDs with parents and 11 key-informant interviews with community leaders. The purposively selected respondents were interviewed in their respective settings.
In the context of urban slums, this study revealed multiple factors influence early marriage decision-making processes among young men. These factors include socially perceived phenomenon of adulthood and readiness of marriage, poverty leading to drop out from schools and early initiation to earning livelihood, manifestations of increasing individual aspiration and agency, fulfilment of romance and erotic desires and dreams of forming one's own family. In addition, parental and immediate societal interference to preserve norms around gender and society can act as catalysts for this decision.
Study findings imply that complex structural factors, social and gender norms that are contributing to the early marriage for both adolescent boys and young men in Bangladesh's urban slums. These are locations where conservatism, poverty and urbanisation intersect resulting in early and often unprepared entry to adulthood for young men impacting on their development and well-being. It is, therefore, critical that young men should be included in the national and global conversations around child marriage and child marriage prevention programme.
探索青少年和年轻男性如何应对复杂的现实生活，解释他们为何以及如何早婚，研究地点在孟加拉国城市贫民窟。
本文使用的定性数据来自于一项为期 3 年的大型研究，该研究使用了定量和定性研究方法。
2015 年 12 月至 2018 年 3 月，在孟加拉国首都达卡和吉大港的两个最大贫民窟进行了访谈。
本文使用了来自 22 名 15-24 岁青少年和年轻男性的深入访谈（IDIs）和 3 次焦点小组讨论（FGDs）的定性数据；13 次 IDIs 和 4 次 FGDs 与父母进行，11 次关键知情者访谈与社区领导人进行。有针对性地选择受访者在各自的环境中接受采访。
在城市贫民窟的背景下，本研究揭示了多种因素影响年轻男性的早婚决策过程。这些因素包括社会上认为的成年和结婚准备的现象、因贫困而导致辍学和过早开始谋生、个体愿望和代理意识的表现、浪漫和色情欲望的满足以及组建自己家庭的梦想。此外，父母和直接的社会干扰以维护性别和社会规范也可以成为这一决定的催化剂。
研究结果表明，复杂的结构因素、社会和性别规范是导致孟加拉国城市贫民窟中青少年男孩和年轻男性早婚的原因。这些是保守主义、贫困和城市化相互作用的地方，导致年轻男性过早且往往没有准备地进入成年期，影响他们的发展和福祉。因此，必须让年轻男性参与到关于童婚和童婚预防方案的国家和全球对话中。
