Exploring the Lived Experiences of Women with a History of Marriage at an Early Age: An Interpretative Phenomenological Study

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the lived experiences of women married before the age of 18 and to understand how they perceived, interpreted, and assigned meaning to early marriage and their subsequent lives. This qualitative study employed an interpretative phenomenological analysis approach. The participants were eight women aged 22–45 years living in Tehran who had married before the age of 18 and had been married for at least five years. They were purposively recruited from healthcare centers, women’s support centers, and nongovernmental organizations working in the field of women’s welfare. Sample adequacy was determined through interpretative saturation. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews lasting 50–120 minutes. The interviews were analyzed according to the six-stage interpretative phenomenological analysis procedure proposed by Smith, Flowers, and Larkin, including repeated reading, descriptive, linguistic, and conceptual noting, development of emergent themes, thematic clustering, case-by-case analysis, and cross-case analysis. Yardley’s quality criteria, researcher reflexivity, and continuous examination of interpretative assumptions were applied to enhance the credibility of the findings. Four overarching themes emerged: “Unfinished Childhood: A Forced Leap into Adulthood and the Loss of Adolescence”; “A Body Belonging to Another: Unwanted Intimacy, Early Motherhood, and Loss of Bodily Agency”; “Confined by Silence and Subjugation: Domestic Violence, Dependency, and the Disintegration of the Self”; and “Reclaiming the Narrative: Resistance, Identity Recovery, and Meaning Reconstruction.” Together, these themes represented an existential trajectory beginning with the abrupt termination of childhood, bodily alienation, imposed silence, and identity erosion. For some participants, this trajectory gradually shifted toward resistance, educational or occupational independence, restoration of agency, and reconstruction of a meaningful personal identity. Early marriage was experienced not merely as a premature transition into marital life but as a profound rupture in developmental continuity, bodily autonomy, personal agency, and identity. Nevertheless, access to education, employment, social support, and opportunities to articulate personal experiences could facilitate identity reconstruction and the recovery of agency. The findings highlight the need for stronger legal and social measures to prevent child marriage and for trauma-informed, empowering interventions that support affected women in reclaiming control over their lives.