asiaone
Diva
updated 23 Jun 2010, 11:12
    Powered by rednano.sg
user id password
Sun, Jun 20, 2010
New Straits Times
EmailPrintDecrease text sizeIncrease text size
Early marriages, early endings

IT is not appropriate to marry off underage children as they are not equipped to face challenges, says Universiti Sains Malaysia social psychologist Dr Intan Hashimah Mohd Hashim.

She said early marriages were not advisable as there were many divorce cases involving young couples.

"The first few years of marriage are the most challenging, so underage children who get married may less likely succeed in their relationship. It is challenging for a 20-year-old to be married, what more if the couple is 15 or 16 years old."


She said early marriages were not an issue from the local perspective as it was not seen as something wrong.

"It is considered sacred and acceptable even though the couple are young. Our cultural expectation sees it as something positive."

Intan said underage children had no power to decide on their own lives. As such, the decision to marry them off was usually made by their parents or guardians.


"There are many factors which lead to the decision (to marry off the children) and one of them is security," she said.

Universiti Malaya psychological medicine department Associate Professor Dr Stephen Jambunathan said parents may give away their children for marriage at a young age due to their culture, history or tradition.

He said even though the cases were not that rampant nowadays, some parents still subscribed to the old traditions as they may also have got married at a young age.


"People used to marry at 13, so it might be a cultural thing. I do not see the act of marrying off young children as an excuse for parents to escape their responsibilities."

Jambunathan said underage marriages had been going on for a long time now but the trend was changing.

"I think it is no longer an issue because the trend is heading the opposite way. People tend to get married at a later age these days."

 

<< PREVIOUS: Too young to wed? | >> NEXT: Becoming an 'adult' too early is hard

readers' comments

asiaone
Copyright © 2010 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Co. Regn. No. 198402868E. All rights reserved.