What Are the Drivers of Child Marriage? A Conceptual Framework to Guide Policies and Programs

PURPOSE: The child marriage field lacks a simplified framework that connects an understanding of the drivers of child marriage for girls to decisions about the design of interventions to delay marriage within different contexts and support married girls. METHODS: We reviewed existing child marriage frameworks and conducted consultations with experts working on child marriage. We then developed a simplified conceptual framework describing the key drivers of child marriage for girls. We explored how these drivers play out and interact using qualitative data from three settings where child marriage is common: Bangladesh, Malawi, and Niger. RESULTS: The final conceptual framework lays out five core drivers of child marriage for girls, which vary and interact across contexts. Social norms and poverty are…