Introduction
Early marriage has continued to be a prevalent issue anywhere in the world (BKKBN, 2020). It is a serious problem that may adversely impact the overall quality of human development (UNFPA, 2020). It may also be the root cause that perpetuates the cycle of social problems. Increased rate of poverty, school dropout, unemployment, crimes as well as poor quality of families and derailed human development are just some of the consequences of early marriage (BPS et al., 2020; UNFPA, 2020; UNICEF, 2020). While various actions have been taken to mitigate and prevent it, child marriage is still considered a common practice in many countries, including in Indonesia (BKKBN, 2020; Kompas, 2020).
There are several factors that contribute to child marriage. Internal and external factors are pivotal to child marriage (Mawarni & Nugroho, 2019). One of those factors is unwanted pregnancy in a child or adolescent (Oktavia, 2018). This paper will focus on the discussion of early marriage that is caused by an unwanted pregnancy. The risk of a child or an adolescent who engages in risky sexual behaviors, or engages in pre-marital sex, to experience unwanted pregnancy is high. In the case of an unwanted pregnancy, due to the generally accepted values and norms in Indonesia, families are more likely to immediately marry their child, despite of her age (Widyawati & Pierewan, 2017).
Both early marriage and unwanted pregnancy may result in complex, severe consequences. These incidents are not only socially detrimental but may also cause negative health effects to the child (BKKBN, 2020). For the female adolescent, early marriage can lead to reproductive health issues, such as cervical cancer. A baby born from an underage or adolescent mother may also experience poor health. Issues such as stunting, low birth weight and malnutrition in children under five are some of the health problems that could result from the unpreparedness of mothers, themselves a child or adolescent, to fulfill their role in childrearing (BKKBN, 2020). Unwanted pregnancies may also bring about similarly negative consequences to early marriages. Some of those consequences are a higher risk of maternal or child mortality, as children or adolescents are often predisposed to rarely seek antenatal care (ANC). Meanwhile, ANC is a vital health service that can help detect any health problems in both the mother and fetus during pregnancy (Rachmawati, dkk., 2017). Unwanted pregnancies also heighten the risk of depression in mothers, suicidal thoughts, the baby-blues syndrome, discontinued education, and social exclusion (Nikmah, 2014; UNFPA, 2020). When both early marriage and unwanted pregnancy occur, they may result in multiple negative impacts, all at once.
There are several things to consider if we are to prevent early marriages caused by unwanted pregnancies. Family, for instance, plays a crucial role in the prevention of these incidents. Family resiliency may be one of the protective factors that prevent children or adolescents from engaging in risky sexual behaviors that may result in pregnancy. (BKKBN, 2020). In order for a family to be resilient and is able to fulfill its functions for the children, there needs to be a proportionate distribution of role among family members, but most importantly among the parents. The role of parents is key in the development of children and adolescents. In Indonesian societies, the burden of childrearing is more often placed on the shoulders of women (mothers) instead of men (fathers). This conception is driven by the patriarchal values that are followed by the majority of societies in Indonesia. In a patriarchal worldview, the men’s role is to provide for the family by doing work outside the household. Meanwhile, women’s role is to care for the children and to perform domestic chores (Dannisworo & Amalia, 2019). For the patriarchal societies, this led to an understanding that it is not necessary for men (fathers) to be involved in childrearing, as this is the duty of the women (mothers). In fact, some people would regard men’s involvement in childrearing as a taboo. Further evidence, however, suggest otherwise; fathers in fact have an instrumental role in the healthy development of their young children and adolescents. Moreover, children who grow healthily are less at risk of engaging in risky behaviors, including sexual behaviors that may cause unwanted pregnancies and early marriages.
Discussion
In the psychosocial theory expounded by psychologist Erik H. Erikson, an individual develops through eight stages of psychosocial development (Erikson, 1994; Sokol, 2009). According to these stages, an individual in the adolescence age group experiences the identity vs. role confusion stage. The individuals at this stage of development will experience the following things. They will start to form their identity by integrating their life experiences and the outcome of their explorations. Adolescents will also experience certain crises or conflicts (Erikson, 1994). If they successfully complete this stage and resolve their crises, they will be able to establish an identity. Conversely, failure to address the crises and developmental process may lead to role confusion in adolescents (Sokol, 2009).
The sense of self that adolescents develop during that particular stage is essential to the subsequent stage in the psychosocial development cycle (Sokol, 2009). Successful resolution of conflicts and completion of this developmental task to establish an identity will lead to the individual’s sense of well‐being (Erikson, 1994). Adolescents who are able to have this sense of well-being will also be able to recognize and know their place in the society. With a well-formed identity, they will also be able to direct their behavior and have a coherent sense of self (Sokol, 2009). On the other hand, failure to overcome the crisis in this stage will cause the individual to question one’s identity and confusion of one’s role. Adolescents’ sense of self becomes vague and unstable. Consequently, this causes them to lose their sense of identity within the society and where to go in life. They will become more susceptible to outside influences, including the influences that may lead to risky behaviors, thus causing early marriages.
The adolescence stage is also marked by their great interest to explore oneself and the world around them, as this is the stage when children are becoming more independent. The needs and want to explore and interact with their social environment create interpersonal relationships, including with the opposite sex in a varying degree of intensity and nature of relationships. The drive of exploration in adolescents may bring both positive and negative results. The latter include risky sexual behaviors that could lead to unwanted pregnancies and, later, unwanted marriages. Aside from being driven by their need of exploration, sexual behaviors in adolescents are also driven by their physiological changes, as their sexual organs are maturing and therefore triggering their sexual explorations (Papalia, Old, & Feldman, 2008).
There are several ways that can be done to help adolescents successfully resolve their crises and their developmental tasks of forming a sense of identity, where to go in life, self-sameness, and resiliency that makes them less vulnerable to the negative influences in life. One of the ways is to build the resiliency of families. Resilient families will be able to effectively perform their social and parenting functions, and equipping adolescents with protective factors. The meaningful and essential role of fathers in this effort of creating positive parenting that is conducive to the adolescent’s healthy development cannot be undermined (Pleck, 2010; Volker & Gibson, 2014). In the family life, fatherhood encompasses positive interactions with their children, warmth-responsiveness, control, indirect parenting, and fulfilling the parental responsibility for children in other ways (Pleck, 2010).
Fathers’ intensive involvement in terms of quantity and quality in parenting and family life generate some important benefits to adolescents. Engaged fathers will improve the well-being of adolescents (Houghton, et al., 2015) and the successful adaptation of adolescents to their reproductive functions (Lamb, 2010) that may reduce the risk of negative explorations towards the adolescents’ sexual functions. In the same vein, other research also suggested that fathers’ involvement contribute to adolescents’ increased problem-solving ability, sense of competence, the overall quality of life, social adaptation ability, stable sense of identity, assertiveness, and self-worth (Volker & Gibson, 2014; Fogarty & Evans, 2009; Houghton, et al., 2015; Martinez, et al., 2013). These benefits can lower the risk of adolescents being involved in negative explorations and other problems, such as risky sexual behaviors leading to a pregnancy and early marriage (Hardin, 2014). Adolescents with a strong identity and sense of self will also be able to adapt and be more resilient to negative influences. Assertive adolescents with internalized self-worth will be able to reject risky sexual behaviors as a form of negative influences. Fathers’ involvement has also been proven to improve adolescents’ self-control (Volker & Gibson, 2014). As discussed earlier, adolescents experience a strong drive of exploration. With a strong self-control, adolescents will be able to direct that drive to positive ways. Adolescents may also benefit from the protective factors created by engaged fathers, especially for adolescents who live in or are exposed to unhealthy environment, including risky sexual behaviors and unwanted pregnancies. The latter and early marriages can be prevented when adolescents have a father figure who are present in their life.
Conclusion
Conclusion of results
Early marriage is a complex phenomenon that is related to a variety of aspects. It causes multisectoral impacts, and its prevention and reduction are urgent matters that demand immediate actions to ensure successful human development – especially adolescent development. To prevent early marriage, it is important to examine the causes and protective factors that can protect adolescents from this risk. Unwanted pregnancy is one of the causes of early marriage. Adolescents, in this stage of development, are forming their identities and are naturally curious to explore many things in life, including sexual exploration. Therefore, adolescents need to be well-equipped to protect themselves in addressing conflicts or negative influences. One of the protective factors for adolescents is fathers’ engagement; their presence in adolescents’ life can create those factors that can shield adolescents from early marriages due to unwanted pregnancies.
Suggestions
Considering the substantial benefits of having an engaged father in adolescents’ life, especially in terms of lowering the risk of risky sexual behaviors that could lead to an unwanted pregnancy, this research suggests that the society advocates for fathers to have a greater role and involvement in their households. Fathers need to be engaged in raising adolescents in their families. To that end, one concrete action that can be taken is to involve fathers in community-based activities that focus on growing resiliency in adolescents, such as the Bina Keluarga Remaja (BKR), a community working group that works with families with adolescents to help them thrive into happy and healthy individuals. Another potential action is to establish a group for fathers that encourage fathers’ involvement and its importance to adolescents’ development, including in preventing risky sexual behaviors, unwanted pregnancies, and early marriages.
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Author by
Dian Jayantari Putri K Hedo, S. Psi. – BKKBN
Keywords: Father Involvement, Early Marriage, Unwanted Pregnancy