Prevalence of Child Marriage among Expectant Mothers in Mysuru City, Karnataka, India

Abstract

Child marriage which was practiced in earlier days is still prevalent in India. It is considered to be one of the heinous practices against young children. Child marriage is defined as the marriage before the children attain 18years of age, which is common for both the genders. Child marriage among children leads to health related problems like complications in early pregnancy, sexual violence and abuse etc. Even though child marriage is prohibited in the country under “The Prohibition of Child marriage Act 2006”, it is been violated. It is widely prevalent in North India but recent studies shows that it is on the increase in South India. It seems that, two out of five girls are married off before they attain 18 years in Karnataka (Child Rights Trust 2010). The Trust in its observatory study reported that the prevalence of child marriage in the Mysuru District, the city of Heritage is about 25.2%. Hence there is a need to understand the causes for child marriage and other precipitating factors for the child marriage among expectant mothers in Mysuru city. For the purpose of the study more than 300 expectant mothers were interviewed who visit for their hospital based check to a Government Hospital, which cater to the needs of mothers from all sections of the society. Accidental sampling method has been adopted to interview the respondents. The results revealed that the causes for child marriages are many, among them one of the main cause is that the people have considered child marriage as a customary ritual and made an obligation for young female children to undergo marriage process in some parts of rural and urban areas in Mysuru city.