Abstract

Current research explored a relationship between budding marriages, life satisfaction and quality of life among female students in Sialkot. This study investigates the impact of early marriage on the rural population in Pakistan. For this purpose sample was comprised of (N=180) under the age of 18 years female in Sialkot. Data was collected over the period of 6 months by the administration of three assessment tools. Satisfaction with life scale (SWLS) to assess the life satisfaction of females, the WHO Quality of life scale (QOLS) to assess quality of life and the Couple satisfaction index (CSI) to measure satisfaction with the partner. The result indicates that there is a significant difference (sig=.000) among variables which explores that budding marriages have a significant impact on life satisfaction and quality of life among female students. To conclude, Current research has approved that budding marriages have a high impact on life satisfaction and quality of life among married female students.

Key Words

Life Satisfaction, Budding Marriage, Quality of Life, Linear Regression

Introduction

Budding marriage is known as early marriage, which is defined as the marriage of a male or female before the age of 18 years of age. Early age marriage of girls is causing the violation of the privileges to the education right of girls and right to enjoy the childhood, as it affects the girls' health and female is given right of choosing husband of their own choice. Early married girls lose their actual identity and are directly or indirectly deprived of control of their life. Girls experience a very high rate of inadequate diet, discouragement and seclusion usually. These problems occur among young females who marry at a very early age, and compared to adult females have greater maternal mortality and mortality than young females who marry at an early age before 181. The early age of marriage is caused by prematurely matrimony consequences and as a result of this consequence women emphases of depression, sadness, withdrawal from society, and like to live alone, as these symptoms may arise the high level of self-harm, suicidal thoughts and attempt of suicide  (Jennifer et al.,2015). Moreover, at the early age of marriage, females have poor sexual and reproductive fitness due to these problems and encounter the risk of early pregnancy related to budding marriage (Walker et al., 2013). Other studies supported that early age marriage woman and became childbearing this in result there mother. They tend to have complications in pregnancy due to pregnancy early and obstetric outcomes (Jensen and Thornton,2003). Research stated that young pregnancy would cause anaemia and pelvic and prenatal death (lkeako & Ogbuefi, 2011). Especially in rural areas, females face more issues as compared to urban areas because, in urban areas, people are educated and have enough confidence to speak and ask about their rights,  but in rural areas, due to poor levels of education, they even don't know about their basic human rights. In addition, there would b a chance of harming to mother or newborns as giving birth at an early young age at which female herself body is not healthy this was affirmed by the world health Organization (2018). Among the important factor of early marriage, mortality is one important factor among girls aged 13-19, which is maternal deaths during pregnancy and childbirth, with accounts for 70,000 death per year all around the world. (UNICEF, State of the World's Children, 2009). 

Quality of life is basically a state of physical, psychological health and emotional stability, which allows the individual to participate in and enjoy the events of life. Literature reveals that early age is a significant factor which affects the quality of life. Early marriage causes marital instability. Studies often proved that marriage age itself is a noticeable factor which affects the quality of life. (Lee, 1977). Britannica (2016) defines quality of life (QOL) as that a person is healthy, comfortable, and able to attend and enjoy live events. The World Health Organization (2020) defines QOL as a person's understanding of his status in his life as set by his cultural and societal norms and values with whom they are living in order to fulfil his aims, motives and standards. This includes all physical, emotional, and social aspects of an individual's life. Another definition of quality of life is that it is a subjective process that is affected by the experiences of individuals largely. The inspection of an individual's subjective understanding of experiences of life must involve some other factors also, like activities of the community, personal development, relations, physical and mental well-being, and happiness (Schalock, 1996). Another description of the QOL is capitalized by Revicki et al. (2000) that QOL is an extensive range of experiences of individuals that are related to their complete well-being, a direction that demonstrates those values that are based on the functioning at the subjective level in contrary with the personal goals or motives and are identified by individualized understanding, states and personal experiences. Furthermore, they also state that by nature, the quality of life is peculiar to every individual, but it is reasonably understandable and very meaningful to the majority of people. According to Diener et al. (1999), the quality of life concept mostly moves around the fact of how a person measures and identifies well-being in various phases of life.

Life satisfaction is simply defined as a good impression of goodness, and sometimes satisfaction term maybe describes in terms of mood, which describes individual goodness, dealing with others, problems and having self-confidence, self-achievement and have potential to deal with everyday work and problems with self-support (Nordberg et al.,2004). Life satisfaction studies concentrated on the age at which an individual married. The martial outcomes mean the contour by age at the time of the first marriage of an individual. This is observed that initial marriage causes the likelihood of divorce; this occurs in most cases who marry at an early age which researches say inverse relationship, the initial marriage as a result of a higher chance of likelihood divorce  (Amato et al. 2007). An essential factor in indicating marital satisfaction and stability was the female age when she got married, as it is known as the sexual adjustment (Bumpass & Sweet, 1972). Marriage at an early age is a challenge, especially for girls, i.e., Sudden shift in their roles, responsibilities, and environment. So, all these changes create physical and psychological burnout. Early age marriage causes girl to face many problems, she cannot deal with emerging demands, and these demands form both the husband's family and female family side when girls cannot deal with demands which cause like; depression impeded labour, sepsis, HIV etc. social, cultural, economic, and religious factors encouraging rural/semi-urban population of Pakistan for many decades. It is also revealed through the research held in the past that budding marriages among young girls have created low health facilities. Demographic and Health survey of women in Pakistan reveals that 39.5% of females had been married before the age of 18, and this ratio varies in provinces of Pakistan like in Punjab, this ratio is 30%, and in Sindh, its 43.1% (Larsen et al.,2017). Budding marriage is not only a foundation of Physical, psychological, and emotional issues among young females. It also destroys the social life of a female and causes a violation of basic human rights of healthy survival.

In the past decade, girls and young women mostly belong to lower middle-class families. Due to lower middle-class families,  females have to face unequal opportunities for education which they have been given an opportunity at only the primary level. Otherwise, women prefer no education to women than boys and young men. However, early marriage is forbidden based on national laws and international laws. Many adolescent girls get married all over the world. There is a variety of laws on the legal age for marriage in different countries. Some research indicates that early marriage that becomes a social custom or norm of society, particularly for girls in Pakistan. It has become custom of our society to the marriage of young girls; otherwise, no one marriage the girl. In many communities and societies, at a very young age, girl marriage is not considered good because they believe that at this age requirement is too low, especially for girls and but in many societies consider that at this age girls mostly do not take their psychological and physiological readiness for marriage into consideration. Some vital reasons for early marriage are superstition education and lack of awareness. For kind of fact, it also created an impact on female health; after the early marriage, girls have to face many health problems. After the early marriage, girls face many health problems. Many studies have proven that the marriage of girls young age by a dictionary which is known as budding marriage, is associated with early/ premature birth as it has a negative impression or effects on the woman and child's health. Second, early marriage often has an abstract effect on women's education as they are mostly expected to spend more time in the household and parenting. Budding marriage is directly related to a female's personality, So it produces a strong impact on their mental health. Different factors have been found as a strong association with the age of marriage among females. Urban-rural disparities in early-age marriages are found to be more prominent among females than males. Causes of a budding marriage are associated with the poor socio-economic group and deprived education. Before 18 years of life, women are not mature and face puberty problems or decision-making.

In poor countries, poverty and cultural norms play central roles in perpetuating adolescent girls' early marriage. Research shows that poor countries have the highest child marriage rates. Child marriage is most common among the poor, who have fewer resources and opportunities to invest in alternative options for girls (Jennifer et al., 2015). According to the records of local religious courts (PA), the marriage rate under the age of 15 in 2008 also increased by 500% compared to 2007, whereas in September 2008, there were 10 marriages whose age was below the 15 years (Hanafi 2005). 

In early marriage, the decision-making process and education are male-dominated and dominated by masculinity. Early marriage increases dropout levels among children, and such girls receive the attention of families towards the education of family, as the family ratio of such females is 73% having no education and 45% have to some extent  (Berhane- Selassie, 1993).

Marriage is a precious relationship between males and females. But early marriage is challenged for girls and boys, specifically, girl because of a sudden change in responsibilities and shift in roles and environment that create stress and depression and physical health also disturbed because it is our society, culture and religious demand that directly affect the male and female minds. Especially in rural areas, females face more issues as compared to urban areas because, in urban areas, people are educated and have the confidence to talk to anyone right, but in rural areas, people have low confidence and low education.

According to Ganchimeg study, et Al.(2013), pregnant women younger than 18 years have a higher risk of developing the diseases preeclampsia and eclampsia and systematic infections. Ezegwui's research, lkeako, and Ogbuefi (2011) stated that young pregnancy would cause anaemia and pelvic and prenatal death. In addition, the world health Organization (2018) also stated that giving birth to a young female child could increase the risk of harming or danger to the newborn baby and young mother. A mother who gives birth to babies under the age of 18 or 16 years is at higher risk of having children with low birth weight (LBW), premature birth, and complications after birth (WHO, 2018).

Marriage before the age described by law is budding marriage. There is an association between marriage and divorce as research shows that when a girl is married before age, have a high chance of likelihood divorce. The more married at a younger age, the more is the chance of divorce. (Amato et al. 2007). This is due to the young age girls are not mature, have difficulty maintaining responsibilities and sometimes face difficulty in adjusting to a new relationship which in results cause of divorce. Age is important for success and happy marriage life. The female age at the time when she gets into a new relationship is an important factor for satisfaction with a new relationship, happiness as well as sexual adjustment (Bumpass & Sweet, 1972).

Marriage is bringing changes in the life of individuals, especially for girls who marry at an early age and have to face many challenges, i.e., a sudden shift of roles. They have to be more mature and have to play new and more roles with new roles have new responsibilities and conditions which she has to fulfil. This change required time to adjust with them. When she is unable to adjust to these challenges results, it causes stress. When a girl marries at an early age, she cannot deal with emerging demands and is involved in illnesses like; depression-like symptoms, sepsis, HIV etc. socially gathering,  cultural, economic, and religious factors have encouraged the rural/semi-urban population of Pakistan for many decades. Early marriages of young girls have created low health facilities. Demographic and Health survey of women in Pakistan Shows that 39.5% of females married before the age of 18, and this ratio of the marriage of females varies in the province of Pakistan. 

It concluded that early marriage is problematic, and it is a global issue, and Pakistani women have faced it for many years. There are many serious issues like economic, social, and religious factors, and health issues are most common. No doubt we should improve our society because it damages our generation. The government should issue an official notice of this issue that we should have a healthy life.




Hypothesis 

The hypothesis of the research is as follows: 

1. Whether budding marriages impact life satisfaction and quality of life among female students (H1 alternative statement). 

2. Whether budding marriages do not impact life satisfaction and quality of life among female students (H0 null hypothesis).

Method

Data were collected from a sample of 180 married women from different regions of Sialkot, based on other ethnicity ranging in age from 12-17 group of students who were under age, and their results were compared with the outcome of 18-25 years old girls within the duration of 6 months. The sample data was collected from both rural and urban areas of Sialkot. Current research is based on a cross-section research design based on a quantitative research method.

The age range of 12 to 17 was included. People with below education level matric to graduates were included. Study based on people of all religions. People from urban ND rural areas were included in the research. Unmarried female students are excluded from the research study. Moreover, the below 12 and above 17 age range population is also excluded from the present study. People of other religions except Islam and Christianity are also excluded from current research. 

Due to the pandemic situation of Covid-19, the data was collected online through Google form. Telephonic contact was also restored with the sample for better result outcomes. In this regard, shared google forms included written informed consent and questionnaires with a clear clarification of the intent of the research to ensure the right to know from those females who had internet access. Ethical considerations were fulfilled before the collection of data. Scales were administered, and data were analyzed by using SPSS (.21).

Results

The table shows a statistically significant relationship between early marriages, satisfaction with life and quality of life. In table column (?) Standard coefficient Beta for early marriages was .594, which shows a positive relationship between early marriage with other variables. The table also depicts the sign value (.000), which shows a significant relationship between variables. The table also indicates that the Beta(B) value is .610 for early marriage.




 

Table 1

Model	B	SEB	?	T	Sig
(Constant)	60.985	6.480		9.411	.000
Early marriage	.610	.052	.594	9.840	.000

Table 2

Variable	Sum of square	df	Mean square	F	Sign
Between group	115.361	100	1.154	5.003	.000
Within group	18.217	79	.231
Total	133.578	179	1.154

 




This table gives both between-groups and within-groups sums of squares (133.578) and degrees of freedom (179). The Mean square of the between-group is (1.154), and the within-group is (.231). Sig. (This is the p value), the Sig. value of this table is (.000).

The overall result indicates that life satisfaction and quality of life among early married females did not meet the criteria of a happy life. According to data analysis and the interpretation of the results, there is a significant courtship between the elements that are being measured as the sig value is less than the standard value of 0.05, which means that our results are significant to be selected, and the alternative hypothesis and repudiated the null hypothesis.

The couple satisfaction index (Funk and Roger, 2007) was designed to measure the association with the satisfaction of intact (married, cohabiting or dating). It consists of 32 items. There have variations among scale items that consist of different responses and formats of scale. It is a valid measure with good internal consistency and reliability. Participants' responses to the scale indicate how much an individual agrees or disagrees, adopting a Likert 7-point scale that extends from 7 value as strongly agree to 1 as strongly disagree.

Satisfaction with life, a 5-item scale designed to assess an individual judgment of one/her life according to global cognitive judgment ( this item response will not measure either positive/ good or negative/ adverse affect). It was first designed by Diener et al. (1985). SWLS is used in different researches that reported the scale has good consequences in the measurement of satisfaction. Participants' responses to each item range between strongly agree or disagree through a 7-point scale exploring how much an individual agrees or disagrees.

 The WHO Quality of Life Scale-Brief (WHOQOL-Brief) is a contour of four main domains on which scores are measured. Among which the score that measures individuality are two items on a scale that show how much an individual has an understanding about their health and what view of individual related to their quality of life. The scores of all domains of scale measure the positive direction, which means that higher scores indicate that individuals have a good view of health and integrity of life.

Discussion

Current research explains differences in the standardized QOL measurements in females across different life satisfaction. Data analysis and the interpretation of the results indicate that there is an alliance between early marriage, satisfaction with life and quality of life. Several studies supported that girls experience a very high rate of inadequate diet, discouragement and seclusion usually. These problems occur among young females who marry very early compared to adult females. Rates of miscarriages, maternal mortality at the time of delivery and fetus mortality are much higher among females under age for marriage than the adult females. (Le Strat et al., 2011). The girls who married at a younger age have quite higher maternal mortality and morbidity rates than adult women (lCRW, 2006). Studies illustrate that females married at an early age experience more anxiety, sadness, and social separation meaning a withdrawal from social settings, than adult females. It has also been observed that levels of self-harm, suicidal thoughts and suicidal attempts also much prevailed among females under mature age (Jennifer et al., 2015), ultimately giving rise to marital dissatisfaction and quality of life. Budding marriage is a significant determinant of a young female's quality of life. The study found that budding marriage and life satisfaction are the main factors that are responsible for the worst quality of life of young females. 

Conclusion

To Conclude, it is stated that early marriage is problematic, and it is a global issue which almost many Pakistani Women have faced for many years. Females married at an early age have been victimized both physically and psychologically. Budding marriage is a significant factor which can be a source of deterioration or up-gradation of quality of life and life satisfaction in female students. Married life is a great responsibility for males and females as a couple, but females have to give birth to a new generation, and their mental and physical health should be kept a priority for marriage. Pakistani women have been facing it for many years. Through early marriage, female students usually face many physical and psychological pressures, which ultimately affect their studies as well. This issue is really a Hallmark of the devastation of our upcoming generation. Hence, we should develop strict policies at the state level through which we can save the lives of females and their children. Whether it's economic pressure, the number of siblings or any other factor, much research is required in this area to search various factors which are responsible for early marriages, in especially rural areas of Pakistan. 

Recommendations

More research could be conducted in this area. Factors contributing to early marriage and level of life satisfaction should be explored; awareness could be generated through awareness campaigns and advertisements. Through this generation of awareness, the level of life satisfaction could be established, and quality of life could be increased, which caused a decrease in early marriage.

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