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Human Rights Watch, February 13, 2017: Witness: Child Marriage in the US Show More Services

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“Research demonstrates that child marriage – marriage under age 18 – is associated with severe harm. A 2010 study found that girls or young women in the US who married before age 19 were 50 percent more likely than unmarried girls to drop out of high school and only 25 percent as likely to complete college. Girls who marry before age 16 in the US are about 31 percent more likely to end up in poverty later. Researchers also found associations between child marriage and mental and physical health disorders. One US study found that marrying as a teenager was associated with a 23 percent higher risk of disease. Research in other countries shows a correlation between child marriage and domestic violence.”

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