Assessing the Costs and Benefits of Cultural Practices

评估文化实践的成本和收益

• 批准号: 1851317
• 负责人: David Lawson
• 金额: $ 19.91万
• 依托单位: University of California-Santa Barbara
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-02-01 至 2022-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1851317&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Assessing; Costs; Benefits; Cultural; Practices

In some societies, traditional marriage customs may produce brides and grooms under the age of 18. International development groups refer to these as "child marriages" and consider them to be damaging to well-being, particularly for girls. Therefore, with wide support from Western nations, including the United States, significant resources are invested in campaigns to eradicate these practices. However, this movement has also been critiqued for relying on a notion that there is a clear and absolute boundary between childhood and adulthood that lies at 18 years. In fact, there is surprisingly little objective information available about why "child marriage" remains prevalent in some places despite its purported harmful consequences. The research supported by this award will address this question. Results from the project will support policy recommendations, and contribute to a wider critical engagement with the notion that early transitions to adulthood are necessarily harmful in all circumstances. Research will be carried out in north western Tanzania among a Sukuma population where around one-third of girls marry before 18 years. Data collection will take place within a demographic surveillance site managed by the Tanzanian National Institute of Medical Research. Taking a mixed-methods approach, qualitative and quantitative data will be collected over a two-year period. To build an understanding of early marriage grounded in ethnographic reality, rather than stereotype, the project will first utilize focus group discussions and in-depth interviews to identify perceived risks to wellbeing that characterize female adolescence and the role of early marriage in elevating or mitigating such risk. Multiple dimensions of female wellbeing (physical and mental health, education, food security, empowerment, and community respect) will then be assessed via a large quantitative survey, and analyzed to determine if 18 years emerges as a meaningful threshold demarcating harmful marriage, or whether alternative age categorizations, if any, better predict variation in wellbeing. Quantitative and qualitative data will then be used test the hypotheses that early marriage is either the product of parental coercion and a parent-offspring conflict of interests, or whether it is better understood as a parental strategy to enhance the success of daughters. Finally, the project will quantify associations between age at menarche, first reproduction and marriage to explore hypothesized links between physiological and behavioral transitions into adulthood. The project includes the mentorship of an American Postdoctoral Scholar, research experience opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, and capacity building for longer-term international collaborative research.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

在某些社会中，传统的婚姻习俗可能会产生18岁以下的新娘和新郎。国际发展小组将其称为“儿童婚姻”，并认为它们会损害幸福感，尤其是女孩。因此，在包括美国在内的西方国家的广泛支持下，大量资源投入了竞选活动以消除这些做法。但是，这一运动也被批评是依靠一个观念，即在童年和成年之间存在着一个明确而绝对的界限，在18岁之间。实际上，令人惊讶的是，尽管“童婚”据称有害后果，但几乎没有关于“童婚”仍然普遍存在的客观信息。该奖项支持的研究将解决这个问题。该项目的结果将支持政策建议，并有助于与早期过渡到成年的观念在所有情况下都有危险。研究将在坦桑尼亚西北部的苏库马人口中进行，大约三分之一的女孩在18年之前结婚。数据收集将在坦桑尼亚国家医学研究所管理的人口监视现场进行。采用混合方法，将在两年内收集定性和定量数据。为了建立对民族志现实为基础的早期婚姻的理解，而不是刻板印象，该项目将首先利用焦点小组讨论和深入的访谈来识别出感知的风险，以表征女性青春期的特征以及早期婚姻在提升或缓解这种这种情况下的作用风险。然后，将通过大量定量调查评估女性福祉（身心健康，教育，粮食安全，赋权和社区尊重）的多个维度替代年龄分类（如果有的话）可以更好地预测健康状况的差异。然后将使用定量和定性数据测试假设，即早婚是父母胁迫的产物和父母的利益冲突，或者是否更好地理解为增强女儿成功的父母策略。最后，该项目将量化初潮年龄，首次繁殖和婚姻之间的关联，以探讨生理和行为过渡到成年之间的假设联系。该项目包括美国博士后学者的指导，本科生和研究生的研究经验机会以及长期国际合作研究的能力建设。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是通过基金会的知识分子来评估值得支持的优点和更广泛的影响审查标准。

项目成果

When marriage is the best available option: Perceptions of opportunity and risk in female adolescence in Tanzania

当婚姻是最佳选择时：坦桑尼亚女性青春期的机会和风险的看法

• DOI: 10.1080/17441692.2020.1837911
• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: Global Public Health
• 影响因子: 3.3
• 作者: Schaffnit, Susan B.;Wamoyi, Joyce;Urassa, Mark;Dardoumpa, Maria;Lawson, David W.
• 通讯作者: Lawson, David W.

Married Too Young? The Behavioral Ecology of ‘Child Marriage’

结婚太年轻？

• DOI: 10.3390/socsci10050161
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Social Sciences
• 作者: Schaffnit, Susan B.;Lawson, David W.
• 通讯作者: Lawson, David W.

What does the American public know about child marriage?

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0238346
• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: PloS one
• 影响因子: 3.7
• 作者: Lawson DW;Lynes R;Morris A;Schaffnit SB
• 通讯作者: Schaffnit SB

Shared interests or sexual conflict? Spousal age gap, women's wellbeing and fertility in rural Tanzania

• DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2020.08.009
• 发表时间: 2021-02-16
• 期刊: EVOLUTION AND HUMAN BEHAVIOR
• 影响因子: 5.1
• 作者: Lawson, David W.;Schaffnit, Susan B.;Urassa, Mark
• 通讯作者: Urassa, Mark