Married Too Young? The Behavioral Ecology of ‘Child Marriage’

For girls and women, marriage under 18 years is commonplace in many low-income nations today was culturally widespread historically. Global health campaigns refer to below this threshold as ‘child marriage’ increasingly aim for its universal eradication, citing apparent negative wellbeing consequences. Here, we outline evaluate four alternative hypotheses the persistence of early marriage, despite associations with poor wellbeing, arising from theoretical framework human behavioral ecology. First, may be adaptive (e.g., it maximizes reproductive success), even if detrimental when life expectancy short. Second, parent–offspring conflict explain parents profiting economically at expense their daughter’s best interests. Third, explained by intergenerational conflict, whereby marry young emancipate themselves continued labor within natal households. Finally, both daughters relatively disadvantaged backgrounds favor a ‘best bad job strategy’ represents option given lack feasible alternatives. The explanatory power each hypothesis context-dependent, highlighting complex drivers history transitions reinforcing need context-specific policies addressing vulnerabilities adolescence worldwide.