Motherhood in Childhood

“I was 12 years old when a man came to ask
my parents for my hand in marriage. They told
me to marry him and after some time I fell in
love with him. I have two older brothers. Both
of them went to school, but my parents never
let me. I don’t know why, maybe because I
am a girl and they knew that I was going to
get married later on. I had my first child when
I was 13 years old. It is not normal but it just
happened. I had problems giving birth but
everything went well. I have three girls and
I am pregnant for the fourth time.”
Marielle, 25, pregnant at 13, Madagascar
either because of social norms concerning
age-appropriate behaviours, ethical concerns
regarding potentially harmful effects of the
research, or doubts about the validity of young
adolescents’ responses (Chong et al., 2006).
In a report on DHS data concerning adolescents
between the ages of 10 and 14, the
Population Council emphasized the need
for research about important markers of the
transition from childhood to adolescence: “In
reviewing these DHS data on very young adolescents,
what we mainly know is that we don’t
know very much.” (Blum et al., 2013)
Some researchers question whether very
young adolescents have the cognitive ability to
answer questions requiring a thoughtful assessment
of the barriers they face or of potential
consequences of future actions. Others believe
that the stigma surrounding premarital sexual
activity for girls is too high to obtain accurate
information (Chong et al., 2006).
researchers ask women who are between 20 and
24 to report the age at which they married and
had their first pregnancy or birth.
Maintaining high ethical standards is crucial
in conducting information-gathering activities.
Children and adolescents require special protections,
both because they are vulnerable
to exploitation, abuse, and other harmful
outcomes, and because they have less power
than adults. Information about schooling and
general well-being has long been collected on
young adolescents, but most researchers have
shied away from covering sensitive topics,
Birth rates vary within countries
Adolescent birth rates often vary within a
country, depending on a number of variables,
such as poverty or the local prevalence of
child marriage. Niger, for example, has the
world’s highest adolescent birth rate and the
highest child marriage rate overall, but girls
in the country’s Zinder region are more than
three times as likely to give birth before age 18
than their counterparts in the nation’s capital,
Niamey. Zinder is a poor, predominantly rural
region, where malnutrition is common and
access to health care is limited.
A review of data gathered through DHS
and MICS surveys in 79 developing countries
between 1998 and 2011 shows that adolescent
birth rates are higher in rural areas, among
8 CHAPTER 1: A GLOBAL CHALLENGE