Early marriages in Nigeria

Early marriages in Nigeria and their implications



AIM:

The main aim of this study, Is to review the available literatures/ evidence on the health and social implications of early marriage in Nigeria.

OBJECTIVE:

1. To determine the prevalence of early marriage in Nigeria.

2. To identify the effect of health of early marriage.

3. To determine the social implications of early marriage.

2. To formulate recommendation leading to changes based on the result of this study.

JUSTIFICATION.

Early marriages still poses a problem in most part of Nigeria, as in many other countries in Africa and beyond. It is practiced and justified in the name of tradition, culture and religion. Especially vulnerable are young girls in rural, poor and deprived communities. The key factor of early marriage is Poverty, with the marriage of children often seen as a strategy for economic survival. The effects of early marriage have focused on premature sex and pregnancy, and School Drop-out. Some religions like Islam's support early marriage (Rogena, Mugo & Odongo, 2005, pp 192 - 198).

In Nigeria 16.1percent of girls find themselves in marriages unions by the age of 15years (UNICEF, 2005.) The sexual Implications include high vulnerability of VVF (Vesico-Vaginal Fistulae), since they are often confined for the sole purpose of child bearing and rearing at a very early age. Another health risk is exposure to STI's and HIV (sexually transmitted infections). This is because their partners are not usually their peers but older and more sexually experienced men. STI leads to Infertility and HIV leads to premature mortality and risk of transmission to the fetus. The younger the age at sexual intercourse and first pregnancy, the higher the incidence of HIV infection.

METHODS.

From the research question derive the key words. Then search for the data base such as Pub Med, Medline to get literature for the topic. Narrow it down, by using the inclusion and exclusion criterion. Critically appraise the literatures and then select some for analysis, from which the results can be discussed and analyzed. There have been many researches on the topic of childhood marriages in Africa and Nigeria, and they can will be analyzed to conduct this research.

PROPOSED METHODOLOGY

Social research methodology, like any research, involves considerable level of information gathering to come to a decision that ca be implemented. The following areas should be extensively covered in order to make the country's social research successful and beneficiary. Social research is an interactive process, which attempts to discover something by finding new information while collecting data. The steps to a proper population research methodology are as followed.

Selecting and Establishing Research Design

Every country is different in terms of the demographics it operates in, the location its population and social norms. Nevertheless, there are still many things common amongst countries to categorize them by research methods and procedures used to collect and analyze data. There are three types of research design (Karanja, 2003, pp 290 - 293):

Exploratory research design: Collecting information in an unstructured and informal way

Descriptive research: Set of methods and procedures that ...