Intersecting Disadvantages for Married Adolescents: Life After Marriage Pre- and Post-COVID-19 in Contexts of Displacement

PURPOSE

Although there is a growing evidence base on the drivers of child marriage, comparatively little is known about the experiences of married girls in refugee settings and how their development trajectories diverge from those of their nonmarried peers, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on cross-national panel data from Bangladesh and Jordan, this article explores diversity in child marriage experiences in contexts affected by forced displacement, highlighting how married girls' well-being differs from that of their unmarried peers, and how COVID-19 has reinforced these differences.

METHODS

We analyzed longitudinal survey data-collected pre- and post-COVID-19-from the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence study with 293 ever-married and 1,102 never-married adolescent girls. Multivariate regression analysis assessed the well-being of married and unmarried girls across contexts and refugee status, both prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. These quantitative data are complemented by in-depth qualitative data from adolescents (n = 112), and key informant interviews with service providers and community leaders (n = 62).

RESULTS

Our findings highlight that married girls in contexts affected by displacement are disadvantaged in multiple ways, but that the patterning of disadvantage varies across contexts, and that marriage can also have protective effects in certain contexts. The COVID-19 pandemic has, however, served to exacerbate existing inequalities in all contexts.

DISCUSSION

Although child marriage prevention efforts remain critical, there is also an urgent need for programming that targets married girls in refugee and host communities to mitigate negative outcomes among this vulnerable group.

Supporting resilience among young people at risk of child abuse in Ethiopia: The role of social system alignment

PURPOSE

Many Ethiopian adolescents experience different forms of violence and abuse at home, at school, and in their communities. There are very limited referral, case management, and justice services, especially outside of urban areas, so young people draw largely on protective and promotive interpersonal resources. This article explores the extent to which available support systems promote processes of resilience among young people at risk of age- and gender-based violence and abuse.

METHODS

The article draws on data from Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE), a longitudinal research study. Qualitative data were collected in 2017-2018 and 2019-2020 through individual interviews and focus group discussions with 595 adolescents and their families, and 77 service provider, community and governmental key informants.

RESULTS

In the absence of effective and at-scale formal protection services, young people who experience age- and gender-based violence draw on support from family members and diverse peer networks. These range from informal friendship groups to organized groups, school-based girls' clubs, and recently formed youth movements linked to the current political transformation in the country. However, given the complex economic, political and social drivers of age- and gender-based violence and abuse, we find that social systems drawn upon by adolescents are often misaligned with formal services and have limited capacity to enable their resilience.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings underline the need to invest in multi-systemic effective, low-cost and accessible social protection, justice, and referral services to address the multiple factors that drive intersecting forms of violence and support young people in preventing and overcoming the effects of abuse.

Perceptions of health and illness among the Konso people of southwestern Ethiopia: persistence and change

BACKGROUND

Cross-cultural studies indicate that every culture has its own particular explanations for health and illness and its own healing strategies. The Konso people have always practiced indigenous medicine and have multifaceted accounts or multiple dimensions of illness perceptions and health-care beliefs and practices. This paper describes how perceptions of health and illness are instrumental in health and treatment outcomes among the Konso people in southwestern Ethiopia. Results may provide an understanding of the perceptions of health and illness in relation to the local cosmology, religion, and environment.

METHODS

The ethnographic method was employed to generate evidence, complemented by focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, and direct observation. Thematic analysis was employed to categorize and interpret the data.

RESULTS

Findings indicate that the Konso people's worldview, particularly as it relates to health, illness, and healing systems, is closely linked to their day-to-day lives. Older people believe illnesses are caused by a range of supernatural forces, including the wrath of God or local gods, oritta (spirit possession), and karayitta (ancestral spirits), and they use culturally prescribed treatment. Young and formally educated members of the community attribute causes of diseases to germitta (germs) and factorta (bacteria) and tend to seek treatment mostly in modern health facilities.

CONCLUSION

Perceptions of health and illness as well as of healing are part of Konso people's worldview. Local communities comprehend health problems and solutions within their cultural frame of reference, which has changed over the years. The Konso people associate their health situations with socio-cultural and religious factors. The individual's behavior and interactions with the social, natural, and supernatural powers affect the well-being of the whole group. The individual, the family, the clan leaders, and the deceased are intimately linked to one's culturally based health beliefs and are associated by the Konso with health problems and illnesses.