Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Policlinic, Bakırköy Dr. Sadi Konuk Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
Department of Psychiatry, Bezmialem Foundation University Medical Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey.
J Biosoc Sci. 2022 Nov;54(6):1024-1034. doi: 10.1017/S0021932021000584. Epub 2021 Oct 25.
Turkish civil code permits child marriages at 16-17 years of age, but if a child is 16 years old judicial consent is needed. Before making a final decision on marriage consent, the judges refer these children to the doctor, and ask whether they are psychologically and physically ready for marriage. While the literature on child marriage in Turkey is rich, little is known about the underlying factors leading 16-year-old girls to request legal child marriage. This study examined the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of girls applying to the courts for judicial marriage consent. Hospital records of girls admitted to a hospital in the Istanbul province of Turkey between January 2015 and December 2018 for the assessment of their physical and mental readiness for marriage were scanned. Of the 122 girls admitted to hospital for this purpose, eight were excluded as they had incomplete data, leaving 114 participating girls. All girls were Turkish citizens and had been referred from the law courts. Being pregnant/having a child (54.4%), having had a religious (non-legal) marriage (49.1%) and having an intelligence score of less than 90 (91.2%) were common among the participants. Among those who had a religious marriage, 78.6% were pregnant/had a child at the time of evaluation and 32.1% reported that they were pregnant before their religious marriage took place. None of the participants reported being forced to marry, but many had run away from home to marry (33.3%). Among those running away to marry, the major reason for deciding to do this was being pregnant (63.2%). Running away from home to marry was found to be related to lower parental educational levels (<0.05). Contrary to the literature, the findings indicate that girls who request judicial consent for legal child marriage in Turkey are not being forced to marry. However, lower educational level seems to be an important factor. Below-average intelligence of the girl and her parents, running away from home to marry and early unsafe sexual intercourse, leading to child pregnancy, were found to be closely associated with legal child marriage in Turkey.
土耳其民法允许 16-17 岁的儿童结婚，但如果孩子 16 岁，则需要司法同意。在对婚姻同意做出最终决定之前，法官会将这些孩子转介给医生，询问他们在心理和生理上是否准备好结婚。虽然土耳其有关童婚的文献很多，但对于导致 16 岁女孩要求合法童婚的潜在因素知之甚少。本研究调查了向法院申请司法婚姻同意的女孩的社会人口学和临床特征。扫描了 2015 年 1 月至 2018 年 12 月期间在土耳其伊斯坦布尔省的一家医院因评估其身体和心理准备结婚而入院的女孩的病历。由于数据不完整，有 8 名女孩被排除在外，留下 114 名参与的女孩。所有女孩均为土耳其公民，并从法院转介而来。怀孕/有孩子（54.4%）、有宗教（非法律）婚姻（49.1%）和智商低于 90（91.2%）的情况在参与者中很常见。在那些有宗教婚姻的人中，78.6%在评估时怀孕/有孩子，32.1%报告说他们在宗教婚姻之前就怀孕了。没有参与者报告被迫结婚，但许多人离家出走结婚（33.3%）。在离家出走结婚的人中，决定这样做的主要原因是怀孕（63.2%）。离家出走结婚与父母受教育程度较低有关（<0.05）。与文献相反，研究结果表明，在土耳其要求司法同意合法童婚的女孩并非被迫结婚。然而，较低的教育水平似乎是一个重要因素。女孩及其父母的平均智力水平较低、离家出走结婚以及早期不安全的性行为导致未成年怀孕，这些与土耳其的合法童婚密切相关。
