Author: Judith McFarlane, DrPH, RN; Angeles Nava, PhD; Heidi Gilroy, PhD; and John Maddoux, PhD

Publication: 2016

Researchers from Texas Women’s University conducted a 7-year study on 244 mothers who had reported intimate partner violence in the U.S. They based their survey questions on the 2011 Forced Marriage Initiative study, and found that 17% of respondents faced a forced marriage attempt, and among those respondents, 45% experienced the threat as a minor.

Author: Tahirih Justice Center
Publication: 2011
This two page summary of the 2011 Tahirih Justice Center survey on forced marriage in the United States provides an overview of the nature and scope of forced marriage in the U.S. Key findings illustrate that forced marriage is a serious problem in the United States with as many as 3000 cases of forced marriage identified over a two year period and service providers in 47 states having encountered cases.

Author: Dr Anver M. Emon (University of Toronto) and Persia Etemadi

Publication: 2015

This curriculum examines “forced” marriage by interrogating the law’s culture on youth agency and consent. It was designed for high school teachers situated in Ontario, Canada, and speaks directly to Ontario’s educational guidelines.

Author: Promundo: Alice Taylor, Giovanna Lauro, Marcio Segundo, & Margaret Greene

Publication: July, 2015

This study – the first of its kind in Brazil – explores attitudes and practices around child and adolescent marriage in the two Brazilian states with the highest prevalence of the practice, according to the 2010 Census, namely Pará in the north and Maranhão in the northeast. The study examines local attitudes and practices, as well as risk and protective factors, around child and adolescent marriage in the capital cities in these two states. It looks at both formal and informal unions (i.e., co-habitation), as the latter are the most prevalent forms of child and adolescent marriage in Brazil yet hold similar implications as formal marriages. The analysis highlights the ways in which a child or adolescent marriage may create or exacerbate risk factors (i.e., related to health, education, security) while often being perceived by girls or family members as offering stability in settings of economic insecurity and limited opportunities.

Author: Create Youth Network – Joanne Hemmings, PhD (Options) & and Saria Khalifa (FORWARD)

Publication: November, 2013

This report presents the results of three Participatory Ethnographic Evaluation Research (PEER) studies, carried out as part of the CREATE Youth-Net project, which aims to safeguard young people in three European countries (the United Kingdom, Portugal and the Netherlands) from harmful practices, in particular Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and forced marriage. A total of 82 respondents took part and interviews covered a range of themes, including migration experiences, gender and social norms, notions of cultural identity, and harmful practices including
FGM and forced marriage.