Abstract:

Adolescence is a complex stage of biological, social and psychological development spanning the gap between childhood and adulthood. In order to achieve a succesful grow-up, an adolescent has to manage a number of developmental tasks. First of all, the adolescent has to build an independent identity. But this task is a difficult one for the adolescent. Marriages at this period of life can be a cause for decreasing self-confidence and a negative effect in developing independent identity. Besides, early marriages can also lead to a number of adversities including dropping out of education , problems in physical and mental health, and so on. The main purpose of this study is to determine the perceptions of women who married in adolescence stage. Several researches can be seen in literature regarding the effects of adolescence marriage. But these studies do not include the meaning of adolescence marriage for the adolescents themselves. For this reason, this study used a qualitative research design. The interviews were undertaken in a problemoriented manner with 12 women who married in their adolescent period. The women claimed that they perceive the marriage as a play, had difficulties in contact with their husband, have difficulties to have baby and raise children and feel generally powerless. These results can be used in preventing adolescence marriages, re-assessing and/or re-organizing the services for supporting the women who married in their adolescence stage of development.

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