TITLE:
Evaluation of the Early Age Married Girls Applying to Our Department
AUTHORS:
Bulut Kasım, Uysal Cem, Korkmaz Mustafa, Sivri Süleyman, Bozkurt İsmail, Durmaz Ubeydullah, Tıraşçı Yaşar, Gören Süleyman
KEYWORDS:
Child Marriage, Mental Disorders, Forensic Medicine
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Pediatrics,
Vol.5 No.4,
December
30,
2015
ABSTRACT: Underage marriages are going on to keep their commonness in countries such
as Turkey although frequencies of them are decreasing in the world. According
to the law, marriages before eighteen years old are also defined as early
marriages. Being married of girls at early ages makes these children deprived
from education life and their vicinity. Therefore severe psychological difficulties
occur in these children. In this study, 19 girls, who were being married at
early ages and psychologically examined between January 1st,
2013-April 1st, 2015 in physical and mental health committee of the
Dicle University, Medical Faculty, were taken to evaluate. These 19 cases were
retrospectively assessed in sociodemographic data (age, education level, and
relative degrees), type of marriage, state of mind, forensic reports and files.
Of 410 cases, who admitted to our mental and physical committee, 19 (4.6%) were
at the category of early age marriage. These 19 cases range between 13 and 17
years of age. Three of them (15.8%) were thinking of suicide and one of them
(5.3%) attempted suicide. At least, one mental disorder was diagnosed in 8
(42.1%) of the cases and the most common diagnose was acute stress disorder in
four (21.1%) cases. It has been stated that marriages at early ages are caused
by economic and cultural reasons. As conclusion, being married of children at
early ages is an important risk factor in social and mental health.