“What other option did I have?”– The effect of conflict and displacement on child marriage and early childbearing among displaced Rohingya adolescents

Our results demonstrate that many Rohingya families view child marriage as a practical tool to overcome challenges associated with being displaced, and early childbearing as an inevitable natural consequence of child marriage. The Government of Bangladesh must ease restrictions on income-generating opportunities as well as continue working with humanitarian organizations to provide and fund education and skills-building opportunities for both adolescent girls and boys, who otherwise have no alternatives to child marriage and few other opportunities to productively contribute to their communities.