Women's Lived Experience of the Consequences of Child Marriage; A Qualitative Phenomenological Study

Child marriage is one of the social phenomenon and can cause many injuries. To deal with the injuries of this phenomenon, it is necessary to know its consequences. The present study was conducted to identify the consequences of child marriage. The research method was a phenomenological study. The study population was all women with child marriage experience in Tehran province 15 people were selected by purposive and snowball sampling methods and the selection of samples went to saturation stage. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. The interviews were recorded and written word by word and were analyzed using the Colaizzi method. In the coding stage, 12 sub-themes were identified and then the sub-themes were conceptually put together and 5 main themes were identified. The results showed that child marriage can cause injuries to personal and marital health. In addition, women in child marriage experience may experience injuries such as anxiety and social isolation, dropout and unemployment, and economic dependence. According to the research findings, child marriage is traumatic and can have irreparable consequences on personal, marital, family, and social life. The results of this research can have many practical implications.