Lived Experiences of Teenage Girls as Wives: Case Study of Girl's Early Marriage in AranvaBidgol

Child marriage is defined as marriage before reaching the age of 18. The data for the study was collected through focused interview with 35 women in AranvaBidgol. The findings were then arrived at through thematic analysis of the collected data. Since these women had not been involved in the process of selecting their marriage partner and were not intellectually mature, their marriage was indeed a convention between their parents. Thus, these girls did not even have a true understanding of marriage and its responsibilities. They experienced lots of difficulties in their social and cultural relations in the society as well as personal relations including establishing proper relationship with their husbands, children and others. Moreover, their lack of proper training on sexual issues and early pregnancy had lasting consequences on them and made them experience mental and physical health problems.