Identifying social, psychological and physiological factors related to the early marriage of girls in Qom a grounded theory

This study explains the early marriages of girls in Qom and the related social, psychological and physiological factors. The research applied the methodology of grounded theory; and overall, about 38 women in Qom who married under 18 were interviewed in in-depth semi-structured interviews. The results of the research reveal that the early marriage conditions for the girls in social aspect are respectively: meeting appropriate and acceptable suitor, compulsion, freedom in decision making, fear of scandal, the inappropriate and unorganized status of the family, and being interested in starting a family; social-psychological aspects are: fear of staying single, psychological preparation and skills readiness, escaping from the stressful condition of family; and psychological aspect are: premarital emotional bond; and finally physiological aspects are: physical fitness, and sexual need. It should be added that the family traditions and customs, as well as religious believes, were the grounded conditions for girls’ early marriages. The facilitator factors from the sociological viewpoint are: social interactions, inappropriate economic status; social-psychological viewpoints are: lack of affections in family, big age gap with the parents, parents’ concerns of inappropriate moral status in society; and the psychological viewpoint is the lack of correct criteria for marriage. The strategies applied were collective consist of social supports, legal measures, interactions of parties in creating optimal communication, and treatment and individual strategies are conflict management, passivity and retaliatory.  The consequences of girls’ early marriage include economic problems, divorce, dropout, lack of communicational skills, physical and health problems for mother and fetus.
 
Keyword
Early marriage, Social, psychological and physiological factors, Grounded theory
 
Introduction
One of the most important indicators to improve the quality of the family is the appropriate age for marriage. According to statistics published by the Statistics Center of Iran, the number of registered early marriages of girls (before 18years) in the years from 1395 to 1398 is about 34%. The phenomenon has increased among families in Qom in recent years. The research on early marriage is extensive and diverse. However, most of these researches have studied the phenomenon with a medical and legal approach while researches with a sociological or interdisciplinary approach in this field are rare and have not been done in Qom (researcher`s residence).
 
Research goals
The aim was to identify the social, psychological and physiological factors associated with the early marriage of girls in Qom in the following questions:
1- What are social factors related to the phenomenon of early marriage of girls?
2- What are psychological factors related to the phenomenon of early marriage of girls?
3- What are the physiological factors related to the phenomenon of early marriage of girls?
 
 
Research methodology
In this study, grounded theory was used and data were extracted from interviewed in-depth semi-structured with 38  early married women in Qom. The data are analyzed by coding method. Information confidentiality, the use of pseudonyms and sensitive questions have been observed in this research.
 
Findings
The result of research reveals that early marriage conditions for girls in social aspect are respectively: meeting appropriate and acceptable suitor, compulsion, freedom in decision making, fear of scandal, the inappropriate and unorganized status of the family, and being interested in starting a family; social-psychological aspects are: Fear of staying single, psychological preparation and skills readiness, escaping from the stressful condition of family; and psychological aspect are: premarital emotional bond; and finally physiological aspects are: physical fitness, and sexual need. It should be added that family traditions and customs, as well as religious beliefs, were the grounded conditions for girls’ early marriages. The facilitator factors in girls’ early marriages from a sociological viewpoint are: social interactions, inappropriate economic status; social-psychological viewpoints are: lack of affections in family, big age gap with the parents, parents’ concerns of inappropriate moral status in society; and psychological viewpoint is lack of correct criteria for marriage. The strategies applied were collective consist of social supports, legal measures, interactions of parties in creating optimal communication, and treatment and individual strategies are conflict management, passivity and retaliatory.  The consequences of girls’ early marriage include economic problems, divorce, dropout, lack of communicational skills, physical and health problems for mother and fetus.
 
Discussion and conclusion
Sociologically, the factors of approval of the suitor and freedom of decision have been discussed. Their desired freedom was freedom to marriage with a suitor that was accepted and approved by parents and others. Coercion has been discussed in most studies. Another factor was fear of scandal. Among these people, girls’ insistence on marrying a specific suitor leads to the family's forced consent to maintain the family's reputation. Some of the interviewees mentioned being single or having a stepfather are the reasons for their early marriage. It seems that the presence of a stepfather when the tension between the daughter and the stepfather exists or the stepfather is not willing to accept her, more likely to be a girl early marriage. Another factor mentioned is the desire to start a family and to achieve many of a person's social, psychological, and physiological needs. Faith and ethnic customs in Qom are other factors mentioned in this paper. Some factors are effective in acceptance of married early such as tribal and local culture, the degree of family traditional behaviour, the degree of ease of choice of spouse by families. Another factor is Seeing a lucky girl as a good way to get married (this was not seen in the investigated studies). The economic poverty factor facilitates early marriage for girls in some families. Because with the marriage of each girl, one of the family members decreases. In some families, with the marriage of a girl and the arrival of a husband with a higher socioeconomic status, some of the economic problems of the girl family may be solved.
Psychologically, the fear of celibacy and experience a kind of social exclusion are factors of early marriage. Some of the cases are mentioned having their skill and psychological readiness to be effective in the marriage. This factor was not found in the investigations. According to the findings of this study, the escape from stressful family situations, the emotional dependence and inadequate puberty of adolescent girls make them more satisfied with early marriage. Compensate for the Lack of love and attention in the family was also mentioned by some of the interviewees. The large age difference between children and parents is also effective. This age difference may lead to intergenerational divisions and misunderstandings between them or cause concern about what will be the future of the life of the unmarried girl if the parent is lost. Some of the parents believe that early marriage protects their daughters from social harm.
Physiologically, the physical growth and fitness of the girl and sexual needs can be mention as some of the factors.
Each of the collective and individual strategies mentioned in this paper can be affected by the causality of the factors.
Economic problems due to an unwillingness to play the role of the spouse are one of the consequences of early marriage. The second consequence is a formal divorce due to insufficient maturity and a lack of sufficient skills and knowledge. Another consequence of this research is the lack of further education. Obstacles to women's education include husbands' gender attitudes toward women's education and the responsibilities of life. Other consequences are low skills for imperfect socialization.
It seems that full sexual maturity and proper physical development of girls have had a great impact on preventing risks mentioned in the paper such as abortion or fetal curettage in the first pregnancy, unwanted pregnancy, difficult pregnancy and delivery, physical problems of mother and baby.