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The impact of armed conflict on adolescent transitions: a systematic review of quantitative research on age of sexual debut, first marriage and first birth in young women under the age of 20 years

The impact of armed conflict on adolescent transitions: a systematic review of quantitative research on age of sexual debut, first marriage and first birth in young women under the age of 20 years
The impact of armed conflict on adolescent transitions: a systematic review of quantitative research on age of sexual debut, first marriage and first birth in young women under the age of 20 years
Background: Young women in conflict-affected regions are at risk of a number of adverse outcomes as a result of violence, economic deterioration and the breakdown of community structures and services. This paper presents the findings of a systematic review of quantitative literature reporting how key sexual and reproductive health (SRH) outcomes among young women under the age of 20 years are affected by exposure to armed conflict; namely, sexual debut, first marriage and first birth. Increases in these outcomes among young women are all associated with potential negative public health consequences. It also examines and documents possible causal pathways for any changes seen.


Methods: To fit with our inclusion criteria, all reviewed studies included outcomes for comparable populations not exposed to conflict either temporally or spatially. A total of 19 studies with results from 21 countries or territories met our inclusion criteria; seven presented findings on marriage, four on fertility and eight on both of these outcomes. Only one study reporting on sexual debut met our criteria.


Results: Findings show clear evidence of both declines and increases in marriage and childbirth among young women in a range of conflict-affected settings. Several studies that showed increases in marriage below the age of 20 years reported that such increases were concentrated in the younger teenagers. Trends in fertility were predominantly driven by marriage patterns. Suggested causal pathways for the changes observed could be grouped into three categories: involuntary, gender and psycho-social and economic and material factors.


Conclusion: The review reveals a paucity of literature on the impact of conflict on SRH outcomes of young women. Further quantitative and qualitative studies are needed to explore how conflict influences SRH events in young women over both the short- and longer-term.
young women, armed conflict, sexual health, early marriage, fertility
1471-2458
1-11
Neal, Sarah
2b63ebf7-1cf9-423d-80a2-bd99a759f784
Stone, Nicole
39001f79-4193-4106-9490-152c2f018958
Ingham, Roger
e3f11583-dc06-474f-9b36-4536dc3f7b99
Neal, Sarah
2b63ebf7-1cf9-423d-80a2-bd99a759f784
Stone, Nicole
39001f79-4193-4106-9490-152c2f018958
Ingham, Roger
e3f11583-dc06-474f-9b36-4536dc3f7b99

Neal, Sarah, Stone, Nicole and Ingham, Roger (2016) The impact of armed conflict on adolescent transitions: a systematic review of quantitative research on age of sexual debut, first marriage and first birth in young women under the age of 20 years. BMC Public Health, 16 (225), 1-11. (doi:10.1186/s12889-016-2868-5). (PMID:26944879)

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background: Young women in conflict-affected regions are at risk of a number of adverse outcomes as a result of violence, economic deterioration and the breakdown of community structures and services. This paper presents the findings of a systematic review of quantitative literature reporting how key sexual and reproductive health (SRH) outcomes among young women under the age of 20 years are affected by exposure to armed conflict; namely, sexual debut, first marriage and first birth. Increases in these outcomes among young women are all associated with potential negative public health consequences. It also examines and documents possible causal pathways for any changes seen.


Methods: To fit with our inclusion criteria, all reviewed studies included outcomes for comparable populations not exposed to conflict either temporally or spatially. A total of 19 studies with results from 21 countries or territories met our inclusion criteria; seven presented findings on marriage, four on fertility and eight on both of these outcomes. Only one study reporting on sexual debut met our criteria.


Results: Findings show clear evidence of both declines and increases in marriage and childbirth among young women in a range of conflict-affected settings. Several studies that showed increases in marriage below the age of 20 years reported that such increases were concentrated in the younger teenagers. Trends in fertility were predominantly driven by marriage patterns. Suggested causal pathways for the changes observed could be grouped into three categories: involuntary, gender and psycho-social and economic and material factors.


Conclusion: The review reveals a paucity of literature on the impact of conflict on SRH outcomes of young women. Further quantitative and qualitative studies are needed to explore how conflict influences SRH events in young women over both the short- and longer-term.

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Accepted/In Press date: 16 February 2016
Published date: 4 March 2016
Keywords: young women, armed conflict, sexual health, early marriage, fertility
Organisations: Faculty of Social, Human and Mathematical Sciences

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 389362
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/389362
ISSN: 1471-2458
PURE UUID: ff60b37c-99f1-4f39-a5ce-7fe42413e177
ORCID for Sarah Neal: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1812-7221
ORCID for Nicole Stone: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0995-8699

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 07 Mar 2016 11:31
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:34

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