Why Mental Health Matters in Child Marriage Responses

Each year, child marriage affects more than 12 million girls worldwide. Despite being explicitly targeted under Sustainable Development Goal 5, child, early, and forced marriages remain deeply entrenched across regions. While governments, civil society organisations, and non-profit actors are taking significant steps to prevent child marriage through legal reforms and community interventions, the long-term impact on survivors’ mental and emotional well-being is often overlooked. 

This article provides an overview of existing research on the mental health consequences of child marriage, and argues that child marriage-related policies and programmes must prioritise trauma-informed and survivor-centred mental health support, which are critical for long-term recovery and dignity of survivors.

The Impacts of Child Marriage on Mental Health 

The psychosocial impacts of early and forced marriage on a child are complex and multifaceted. The depth of the harm often goes unnoticed as mental trauma may not leave physical scars behind, hence seldom people notice these invisible wounds. Individuals married as children face significant mental health challenges due to early exposure to violence and loss of autonomy. Early marriage places girls at heightened risk of sexual, physical, and psychological abuse, often restricting their ability to escape abusive relationships. Child brides also experience traumatic life events such as early pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, maternal complications, separation, divorce, widowhood, and family conflict at an age meant for learning and development. Girls are frequently pressured to conceive soon after marriage, despite pregnancy-related complications being a leading cause of death among those aged 15–19. Limited decision-making power restricts their ability to lead a life of their own choices, leading to many mental health disorders. Evidence consistently links child marriage to poor mental health outcomes, including depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and suicidal ideation. However, mental health services for child brides remain scarce and under-resourced. Restricted mobility, stigma around mental health, defined gender roles and loss of autonomy further block access to care. Targeted outreach and dedicated, survivor-centred support systems are urgently needed for married girls.

Research by Burgess et al. (2022), based on data from 12 countries primarily in the Global South, underlines the aforementioned facts. The study identifies intimate partner violence, poverty, childbirth-related challenges, and isolation as key contributors to emotional distress among child brides. Depression emerged as the most commonly reported mental health condition, while anxiety, phobias, psychological distress, substance misuse, negative well-being and antisocial personality disorder were reported less frequently. The findings underline a clear link between child marriage and poor mental health, while also highlighting significant gaps in evidence. Another study by Jones et al. (2025) analyses the mental health consequences of child marriage, drawing on mixed-methods data from 8,567 young people aged 15-24 in conflict-affected countries, including Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Jordan. The study found that girls married before 18 years of age experience higher levels of emotional distress and depression, and lower resilience than their never-married peers. The study also highlights that child brides have limited access to socio-emotional support from friends and trusted adults. Mobility constraints shaped by conservative gender norms and exclusion from education further isolate married girls, limiting their peer networks and access to services that could provide information and support.

While the physical and social consequences of this harmful practice are increasingly acknowledged, its profound mental health impacts continue to be underrepresented in policy and programming. Research by Elnakib et al. (2024) found that girls married before the age of 18 face distinct and heightened vulnerabilities, yet programmes addressing their needs remain limited. While global efforts have largely focused on preventing child marriage, far less attention has been given to supporting child brides. Existing interventions predominantly prioritise sexual and reproductive health, with minimal focus on mental health, social wellbeing, education, or economic empowerment, despite evidence linking child marriage to poor mental health outcomes and increased risk of intimate partner violence. Survivors and experts stress that social factors strongly influence how child marriage affects mental health and call for greater advocacy to address this gap. Burgess et al. (2023) also emphasise that future responses should prioritise psychological and social support, with a strong focus on girls and young women who are currently in marriages.

The Way Forward

Moving forward, mental health must be recognised as a central and long-term consequence of child marriage, not a secondary concern. Responses should be survivor-centred and context-specific, taking into account girls’ age, marital and motherhood status, family dynamics, economic conditions, educational background and the social norms shaping their lives. Mental health support needs to be built into child marriage, gender-based violence, and adolescent health programmes from the beginning, with dedicated funding, clear referral pathways, and links to existing health and social services rather than being treated as an option. 

Efforts should prioritise accessible, community-based support that reduces isolation and stigma, with the greatest impact achieved when such initiatives are implemented at the national level. Safe spaces, peer support groups, and psychosocial interventions can provide immediate emotional support, help identify more severe needs, and connect survivors to trusted agencies and services. These approaches should be combined with individual support options, such as counselling or helplines, and practical assistance, such as childcare and transport, to ensure that married girls and young mothers can participate. Engaging families, partners, in-laws, and community leaders will help build a supportive environment for the survivors, although meaningfully including these stakeholders may remain challenging. 

Mental health responses must also be integrated across sectors, utilising existing entry points such as health clinics, antenatal care, schools, vaccination programmes, and community health workers to reach child brides. Frontline service providers need training through capacity-building programmes to recognise mental health issues, provide timely, trauma-informed support, and connect patients with healthcare agencies or professionals. At the same time, survivors’ well-being should be supported through education, skills development, and access to secure livelihoods, as economic security and real alternatives to marriage are closely linked to mental health. Finally, sustained investment in data, research, and evaluation is essential to understand what works, strengthen accountability, and scale effective, survivor-centred models within respective national systems. In addition, national and international conversations, debates, and dialogues on mental health and child marriage can help draw global attention to this sensitive yet pressing issue.

Addressing the aforementioned gaps requires the systematic integration of mental health support into child marriage response frameworks. Mental health must be treated as a core, long-term consequence of child marriage and integrated into survivor-centred, community-based programmes across health, education, and protection systems, ensuring that survivors are not only protected from harm, but also supported in healing and rebuilding their lives.