Early Marriages Among Adolesencent Girls in Afyonkarahisar, Turkey

Aim: Early marriages have considerable adverse effects on adolescents and children health. To determine the factors associated with early marriages, this study was conducted in a forensic sample of Afyonkarahisar province. Method: Between 2005–2006, Adolesencent women who were admitted to the court subsequently referred to the psychiatric outpatient clinics of the univercity. The authors who are psychiatrist individually interviewed all subjects by using a sociodemographic questionnaire form which was applied to 61 women aged between 15-17 years. Result: Most of adolescents in our sample were from rural area and about 65.5 % of participants did not view early marriage as a problem. Of all cases the rate of consanguineous marriage was 23.0 %. More than half of participants reported that their knowledge of sexuality were none or little, and the most common sources of information on sexuality were relatives and friends. Conclusion: It was detected that most adolescents in our sample were from a low socio-economic class, and after finishing the primary school, they wait for a marriage. Furthermore, they receive very little sex education from their parents and a modern institutional education programme in their school is needed.