RESULTS

Click here for Table1: Demographic characteristics of participants

In total, factors that encouraged early marriage and motherhood were classified into two main categories and eight sub-categories (Table 2).

Table 2: Main categories and sub categories of factors that encourage early marriage and motherhood


1. External incentives
External motivations related to family, life position and community had caused adolescents to get married and become mothers.
1-1: Inappropriate economic conditions: The financial problem was one of unpleasant situations for early marriage. Some adolescents were getting married to improve economic conditions for themselves and their families (Table 3. Quotation 1).
1-2: Instability of the family: Family breakdown, divorce or death of parents had caused adolescents to get married, and separation from family created a better position for them (Table 3. Quotation 2). Trying to resolve family disputes and helping strengthen families were also among reasons stated by adolescents for pregnancy (Table 3. Quotation 3).
1-3: Desire and encouragement of parents: Early marriage of some adolescents was due to urging of their parents. Financial problems, social norms, cultural and religious issues or their personal attitude were encouraged by parents to this desire (Table 3. Quotation 4, 5).
1-4: Copying from others: Excessive interest in friendship and the need to be approved by friends affected the decision of adolescents on marriage (Table 3. Quotation 6). Early marriage of sister or brother had also encouraged adolescents to get married in order to be similar to other family members (Table 3. Quotation7).
2 - Internal incentives
Some factors that encouraged early marriage were related to adolescents ‘desires’, and were originated from their beliefs.
2-1: Position: Some adolescents were married in order not to lose such an opportunity. Adequate understanding of the suitor and detecting ideal features in him, were some of the reasons of early marriage (Table 3. Quotation 8). Some of the adolescents thought that, protection of marital relations depended on childbirth. Therefore they had decided to get pregnant (Table 3. Quotation 9).
2-2: Subjective beliefs that encourage the marriage & motherhood: Some adolescents selected marriage because of their subjective thoughts and beliefs. Some considered marriage as God’s will and divine destiny and were not opposed to it (Table 3. Quotation 10). The belief “the situation will get better and more comfortable by childbirth”, had caused adolescents to get pregnant (Table3. Quotation 11). Early puberty and gaining some abilities had caused adolescents to imagine that they were ready to get married (Table 3. Quotation 12). Facing cultural beliefs in consequences of contraception had encouraged adolescents to get pregnant and act based on their mentalities (Table 3. Quotation 13).
2-3: Meeting inner needs and desires: Feelings of loneliness and desires, love, respect, and independence had encouraged some adolescents to be married. Adolescents wanted independence and freedom in decision making and expected to be addressed as an influential person. They were tired of parental interferences and were married for love, soul-mate, and value acquirement (Table 3. Quotation 14). Most participants expressed that they wanted a child to get rid of loneliness. Some adolescents had become lonely after separating from previous dependencies such as; family, friend, school, etc… (Table 3. Quotation 15). Also having old parents who had not been able to be friendly with their children, had encouraged adolescent girls to get pregnant and close the age gap between themselves and their children (Table 3. Quotation 16). Love and desire towards baby, and satisfying the sense of possession which is one of the characteristics of adolescence were reflected in the statements of participants (Table 3. Quotation 17).
2-4: Insufficient awareness: Some of the adolescents thought marriage was simple and viewed it as a child play as they lacked sufficient knowledge about it, its meaning and philosophy. They were assuming the marriage only by its apparent applications and had not thought about it seriously (Table 3. Quotation 18). Some of them were presuming childbirth as a simple process, and were unaware of the possible difficulties of pregnancy and childbirth (Table 3. Quotation 19). Not having enough information about the possible mechanisms of pregnancy, unfamiliar with contraceptive methods, and they referred to their imperfect knowledge in this field as the cause of early pregnancy (Table 3. Quotation 20).

Table 3: Quotations of Participants

Quotation 1 “I saw my dad and my mom were struggling financially. They had difficult to covering our costs, so I was helping them as much as I could, I was working, then I thought that it was better to get married. I wanted to leave the home earlier so I could help my parents”.p4

Quotation 2 “I was nine years old when my parents got divorced ... my mother married another man. I had a lot of problems with my stepfather and half-sisters and brothers. I could not accept my stepfather as my father.P6

Quotation 3 “My mother-in-law was angry with my mother. My mother said: if you have children, the hatred and resentment between the two families will be resolved”.p7

Quotation 4 “When my sisters got married, my father said to me: if a good suitor comes for you, you have to accept him. My parents were satisfied with him so I accepted to get married” p15

Quotation 5 “A few months after our marriage my husband said: we must have a baby as I could not resist my parents’ insistence anymore. I did not want to become pregnant too soon, but my husband’s parents forced us”.p3

Quotation 6 “I saw my friends who were married and also studying. They were satisfied. I thought I could do the same thing. I was always like them; we were buying the same clothes, and having fun together. I did not want to fall behind them. When the first suitor came, I got married”. P5

Quotation 7 “Only one of my sisters married when she was 20 and my other sisters and brothers got married at 17 or 18 years. In our family, my siblings get married at early age”.p12

Quotation 8 “I knew him very well. They were very nice people... he met my criteria. I was going to school that time, but I thought, if I got married I would be better off because my husband had a good condition. I did not want to miss the chance”p10

Quotation 9 “Three months had passed since our marriage but I was not pregnant yet. I told my husband: if I do not get pregnant we would get divorced, so you could marry again and have kids ... I was really scared”.p4

Quotation 10 “It was God’s will that we got married. It just happened. I said nothing, and did not oppose it. I let it happen”.p1

Quotation 11 “My mother-in-law said; “if you have a baby, God will sort everything out and if there is a problem it will be solved”.p6

Quotation 12 “I was fatter than my peers. I became menstruate very soon. I had to cook, clean and do housework. I had learned lots of things. My attitude was like older women, and I understood more than my age. I thought, I knew how to deal with husband and his family. My general knowledge was so high that older people were consulting with me.”p8

Quotation 13 “My mother-in-law said; “if you use contraceptive pills, you may never get pregnant. Contraception is not good”. She said: if I use contraceptive pills, my ovaries may stop working forever and I could never have children”.p14

Quotation 14 “Before I was married, my parents decided for me. I wanted to be independent and I didn’t like people interfere in my business. I wanted to get married as soon as possible, perhaps I would have more freedom. I wanted to get married to somebody that I love. Someone that we could make plan for our life together, and ask me what I like. We would have fun together and be together”.p3

Quotation 15 “As I have no sister or brother, father, mother or friends, I decided to get pregnant, no one was beside me”.p11

Quotation 16 “I like to have a grown up child when I am still young, because my parents were old and they could not understand me. I wished my parents were younger so we could talk with each other. I liked to get married early so my children wouldn’t feel the same”.p2

Quotation 17 “I like kids very much. I wanted to have children. When I saw other people’s children, I wanted to have a baby too”. P8.

Quotation 18 “My dad said: do you want to get married? Yeah, I like it very much I replied. I did not know what marriage means. I thought it was very good, I could put makeup whenever I wanted, and I could showoff my colored hair, my wedding ring and other stuff. Now I understand how playful and childish I was thinking”.p9

Quotation 19 “I thought having a baby is very simple, I did not think it is hard. I did not think of childbirth and I was just thinking of having a baby”.p16

Quotation 20 “I did not want to become pregnant. I was using contraception but I got pregnant. I did not think that getting pregnant happened so easily. I did not know how I can be pregnant. I wanted to do something in order not to get pregnant. I had heard there were ways to prevent or quit pregnancy but did not know them very well”.p13

DISCUSSION

In Iranian culture, being a mother is a predictable and ordinary event that happens after marriage and the reasons for early motherhood lay in early marriage. The minimum legal age of marriage in Iran is 13 for girls and 15 for boys, but there is no legal impediment to early marriage(6). Due to lack of laws or their implementation, there is no possibility to protect the girls from early marriage in many countries (18, 25, 27). In Iranian culture, women are expected to get pregnant as soon as they get married, and if this does not happen, people would assume there exists a problem and women should provide an explanation.

Early marriage and motherhood of the participants was in response to external and internal instincts.

A poor economic condition was among the causes of early marriage. Several studies indicated that poverty is one of the main causes of early marriage which is a survival strategy for cutting the costs for poor families (3, 4, 6, 7, 18-20, 22, 25, 28, 29).

Family breakdown was another incentive for early marriage. In Iran, offspring are highly dependent on family and the existence of parents who have special roles and responsibilities is essential. Divorce or death of a parent can change the normal process of family life. Coyne (2014) recognized the breakdown of family structure and the absence of the father as the reasons for early marriage and motherhood(24).

A group of adolescents were married due to the urge of their parents and relatives. Such a situation occurs mainly in traditional families. UNICEF identifies the most important reasons for early marriage as; the urge of parents, the need for self-esteem and social approval, relatives’ pressure; preventing social stigma, staying unmarried in girls, and sex before marriage(3, 20). In Iranian culture, the most important reasons for parents’ tendency towards early marriage of their daughters include; protect the girl and ensure her purity, security and safety. Of course, this is the parent’s view and daughters may not agree. Worry of some parents from harassment has caused them to be interested in early marriage of their daughters. Most of the daughters in traditional Iranian culture accept decisions of parents without any disagreement. Thus sometimes parents don’t consider desires of adolescents. Early marriage in many cultures is a way to avoid sin and sexual promiscuity (without legal marriage)(19). In these cultures, unmarried girl’s sex is an odious sin and creates severe social stigma for family. The Muslims of Iran believe, marriage is the best way to meet the sexual needs even when a girl and boy are very young. In Islamic countries, because of religious beliefs in favor of early marriage and fear of pregnancy outside the marriage, parents agree with the marriage of their daughters at first opportunity(20, 22). Some adolescents decided to get pregnant to meet the demands of the relatives, especially the husband and his family. In Iranian culture, having children is fundamental and preservative of marital life and couples have children to strengthen the relationship between themselves and their families. Kibretb (2014) stated that, one of the reasons for motherhood among adolescents is to help strengthen family relationships(4).

Some adolescents were married to be like their families or friends. Netsanet (2015) believes that, early marriage of mother increases the likelihood of her daughter to copy her(3). Most mothers prefer their daughters to get married at the same age as they did(7). This kind of mothers inculcate to their children that early marriage is a social value. Adolescents’ tendency to emulate peers is also another reason for this copying behavior(30). Also, the media encourage adolescents to sexual relations.

Some of the adolescents were married to avoid losing the position. One of the social issues affecting early marriage is the fear of not finding a suitable partner. This belief exists in traditional Iranian culture, especially in rural areas. In some provinces of Iran, adolescent girls have the best suitors for marriage because the best men tend to marry girls who are at the peak of beauty. When the age of a girl increases, her opportunities for marriage diminish. Hence, families prefer early marriage of girls to prevent this problem. In some other cultures, any delay in marriage makes them believe that the girl does not have many options, so the girls get married when they have their first suitable opportunity(3).
From the Muslims’ point of view (including Iranians) some events are divine destinies, and will happen whether we want them or not, so must accept them. Marriage in adolescents was considered as such an event. In Iranian culture, there is this belief that marriage will happen, if God will. So the marriage time is at “hands of God”. Existing religious beliefs of the society had caused adolescent mothers to see children as the reason for receiving God’s blessing. They believed that, having children would make their life better so they had decided to get pregnant. Iranians believe, when a child is born, he/she brings many gifts for the family, and God paid more attention to family.
Most adolescents believed they had enough physical preparation for marriage, and did not pay attention to mental social, financial, and spiritual preparation that are essential for marriage and making a family. Rapid physical growth during adolescence created the impression that they were prepared for marriage. Early marriage also is more common in adolescents who feel the emotional readiness for marriage. They believe they should offer their love and affection to another human(19). In Iran, marriage is legal and religious way of expressing love and Iranian culture supports adolescents who married to achieve love.

A group of adolescents were married to meet their inner needs and desires. Adolescents at this age are full of emotional instability and become interested in early marriage to get love and affection(19). Another encouraging factor for early marriage was gaining independence. Interference of people, especially parents were unpleasant for some adolescents, so they preferred getting married than obeying their parents. Being interested in having children and responding to inner desires such as getting rid of loneliness was causing adolescent mothers to get pregnant. Some of the reasons that influence adolescents decision about pregnancy which included; an interest in having children, growing up (responsible, mature, independent), receiving love of the husband and getting rid of loneliness, having a sense of ownership ( having a child) and increasing self-confidence (being a good mother)(31). Some of the adolescent mothers believed that, early motherhood depended on the energy and strength of the mother and having a small age gap with children can be beneficial for both mother and children.

Some others thought marriage was simple. Lack of sufficient information about the consequences of early marriage and suitable age for marriage had caused adolescents to believe marriage is simple(7, 29). Insufficient knowledge of adolescents about pregnancy, childbirth, and childrearing had also caused them to assume having children is a simple process, and they decided be pregnant. More participants in this study had been pregnant unintentionally. Majority of adolescents did not have adequate information about sex and pregnancy mechanism, and were using contraception incorrectly or did not have access to it (15, 16, 32, 33). Married adolescents are forced to have sex under the pressure of spouse, family and community that will ultimately lead to pregnancy(33, 34).

In Iranian culture, married women must be engaged in sex and married teens are also not excluded from this law.

In issue of early marriage and motherhood, the youth, mass media, schools, neighbors, religious centers, parents, researchers, health centers, and policy makers must be considered. Health providers can improve families’ economy by introducing them to support centers. They could also help family disputes by providing appropriate counseling and advice. Providing appropriate education for adolescents, parents and other people involved can lead to appropriate and timely marriage. Identifying adolescent mothers’ educational and caring needs and providing appropriate training and care can prevent unwanted pregnancy and its consequences. School nurses can use the influence of friends to promote optimum health behaviors in adolescents. All of these services must be done in accordance with the principles of counseling adolescents, in order to empower them in decision making and solving challenges. However, the sample size of this study was small and looked at only part of multiple cultures Iranian, so researchers suggest the need for similar research in the field.