Understanding the social processes underpinning child marriage: The impact of protracted displacement in Lebanon on Syrian refugees

The paper highlights the social processes underpinning child marriage from the perspective of Syrian refugees and examines the nature and impact of decision-making processes related to child marriage. The research finds that girls marry under 18 years of age for a variety of reasons, including social norms and traditional culture that accepts or values child marriage, to ensure that girls are sufficiently protected, high levels of poverty and insecurity, low educational levels and school dropout or because it is perceived as a religious practice. Nowadays, the marriage of girls under 18 years of age has received increased attention in Lebanon, partly due to emerging evidence of increased levels of child marriage amongst Syrian refugees. Therefore, through ten semi-structured narrative interviews that were completed with married Syrian refugee girls (under 18 years) in Lebanon from May to August 2018, this paper examines the meanings and the complex social processes which are attached to child marriage.