A Qualitative Study Exploring the Experiences of Early Married Women

Abstract

Child marriage or early marriage, commonly encountered in underdeveloped or developing countries, is an important woman and child public health problem. Since early marriages usually take place through religious practices without formal documentation, it is challenging to estimate the exact numbers. According to the statistics, approximately one in four women in Turkey is married before the age of eighteen. Early marriage is one of the most common forms of child abuse and it is a risk factor not only for physical and psychological disorders, but also for domestic violence. Although there have been some studies about early marriage in psychology recently, majority of them employed quantitative methods. The current study focused on understanding the experience of early marriage. For this purpose, semi-structured interviews were conducted with six early married women between the ages of 30 and 41. The analysis of the interviews was carried out by the Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). IPA was preferred because it attaches importance to the understanding of participants’ subjective experiences and also considers the cultural context in which the phenomenon was experienced and expressed. As a result of the analyses, four themes were obtained: “Negative experiences with the spouse,” “Experiences with in-laws,” “'Challenges and inabilities associated with the new role” and “Marital knowledge.” Obtained themes were discussed in the light of the relevant literature.

Keywords

• early marriage
• child marriage
• Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis

Erken Evlilik Yapan Kadınların Evli Kadın Rolünü Deneyimleme Sürecine İlişkin Nitel Bir Araştırma

Abstract

Çocuk evliliği ya da erken evlilik, gelişmemiş ya da gelişmekte olan ülkelerde yaygın olarak karşılaşılan  nemli bir kadın ve çocuk sağlığı sorunudur. Erken evlilikler genellikle resmi nikah olmaksızın, dini nikahla gerçekleştiği için kesin sayılara ulaşmak oldukça zordur. İstatistiklere bakıldığında ise, Türkiye’de yaklaşık olarak her dört kadından birinin on sekiz yaşından önce evlendirildiği görülmektedir. Çocukların erken yaşta evlendirilmeleri çocuk istismarının en yaygın görülen biçimlerinden biridir; fizyolojik ve psikolojik hastalıkların yanı sıra, aile içi şiddet konusunda da risk faktörüdür. Psikoloji alan yazınında erken evlilik olgusu ile ilgili son yıllarda çalışmalar yapılmaya başlanmış olsa da, bu çalışmalarda çoğunlukla nicel yöntemler kullanıldığı görülmektedir. Mevcut çalışmada ise erken evlilik deneyiminin anlaşılmasına odaklanılmıştır. Bu amaçla, çalışma kapsamında on sekiz yaşından önce evlendirilmiş, yaşları 30 ile 41 arasında değişen altı evli kadın ile yarı yapılandırılmış görüşmeler yapılmıştır. Görüşmelerin analizi Yorumlayıcı Fenomenolojik Analiz (YFA) yöntemi ile yapılmıştır. YFA katılımcıların yaşadıkları deneyimlere yükledikleri anlama önem verdiği ve deneyimin yaşandığı ve ifade edildiği kültürel bağlamı da göz  önüne aldığı için tercih edilmiştir. Analizler sonucunda “Eşle yaşanan olumsuz deneyimler”, “Eşin ailesi ile yaşanan deneyimler”, “Yeni rolle ilişkili zorluklar ve yetersizlikler” ve “Evlilik bilgisi” olmak üzere dört tema ve bu temalara bağlı alt temalar elde edilmiştir. Elde edilen temalar ilgili literatür eşliğinde tartışılmıştır.

Keywords

• erken evlilik
• çocuk evliliği
• Yorumlaycı Fenomenolojik Analiz

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