Evaluation of the Early Age Married Girls Applying to Our Department

Bulut Kasım,Sivri Süleyman,Bozkurt İsmail,Durmaz Ubeydullah,Gören Süleyman,Korkmaz Mustafa,Uysal Cem,Tıraşçı Yaşar

doi:10.4236/ojped.2015.54050

Abstract

Underage marriages are going on to keep their commonness in countries such as Turkey although frequencies of them are decreasing in the world. According to the law, marriages before eighteen years old are also defined as early marriages. Being married of girls at early ages makes these children deprived from education life and their vicinity. Therefore severe psychological difficulties occur in these children. In this study, 19 girls, who were being married at early ages and psychologically examined between January 1st, 2013-April 1st, 2015 in physical and mental health committee of the Dicle University, Medical Faculty, were taken to evaluate. These 19 cases were retrospectively assessed in sociodemographic data (age, education level, and relative degrees), type of marriage, state of mind, forensic reports and files. Of 410 cases, who admitted to our mental and physical committee, 19 (4.6%) were at the category of early age marriage. These 19 cases range between 13 and 17 years of age. Three of them (15.8%) were thinking of suicide and one of them (5.3%) attempted suicide. At least, one mental disorder was diagnosed in 8 (42.1%) of the cases and the most common diagnose was acute stress disorder in four (21.1%) cases. It has been stated that marriages at early ages are caused by economic and cultural reasons. As conclusion, being married of children at early ages is an important risk factor in social and mental health.

Highlights

Marriage is defined as a relation which has a legal validity between an adult female and male requiring certainHow to cite this paper: Kasım, B., Cem, U., Mustafa, K., Süleyman, S., İsmail, B., Ubeydullah, D., Yaşar, T. and Süleyman, G. (2015) Evaluation of the Early Age Married Girls Applying to Our Department
Early age marriages decrease gradually worldwide, it is still common in underdeveloped countries or developing countries such as Turkey
When girls are noted to be espoused before 15 years of age, penalty is predicted for the crime of “sexual abuse of the child” for the spouse and taking part in the crime for parents of both the girl and his spouse [7]

Summary

Introduction

(2015) Evaluation of the Early Age Married Girls Applying to Our Department. United Nations and other international organizations define child marriages as violation of children and human rights. Universal declaration of human rights mentions that individuals should marry with their own free will in the lawful ages. Code of Child Welfare identifies the child as “the minor individual even she/he reaches the puberty in the early ages” [3]. Marriages before 18 years of age are evaluated as “early marriages” [4] [5]. When girls are noted to be espoused before 15 years of age, penalty is predicted for the crime of “sexual abuse of the child” for the spouse and taking part in the crime for parents of both the girl and his spouse [7]. No penalty codes are involved in our law system for early marriages. Since existing penal codes are focused on sexual abuse, some problems are faced [4]

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