Social Support and Family Resilience Among Early Marriage Couples in Minangkabau Society

Early marriage remains a persistent social problem in Indonesia, exposing young couples to economic hardship, psychological distress, and relational instability, yet the role of social support in helping these families cope has received limited attention within specific cultural contexts. This study examines the forms of social support received by early marriage couples in Padang City, West Sumatra, and their consequences for family resilience, while critically interrogating whether such support merely enables survival or also reproduces the structural conditions that drive early marriage. Using a qualitative case-study approach grounded in interpretive social constructionism, data were gathered through in-depth semi-structured interviews and non-participant observation with six early marriage couples, supplemented by interviews with family members and analysed thematically. The findings reveal that emotional, instrumental, informational, and spiritual support flowed primarily through extended matrilineal kinship, strengthening self-acceptance, marital adjustment, and household resilience. However, the same support that sustained these families also normalised early marriage and eased pressure for structural change. The study concludes that social support functions dually, as an adaptive mechanism and as a vehicle of structural reproduction, implying that family empowerment programmes should foster genuine autonomy rather than mere survival.