Data Sheet 1_A qualitative social network analysis of decision-making around child marriag

20 interviews with adolescent girls married before 18 and their network members in three Bangladeshi villages reveal the social dynamics behind early marriage. The dataset, authored by Anja Zinke-Allmang and last updated in May 2026, includes interview transcripts and social network maps from a qualitative social network analysis. It examines how perceptions of a girl's physical growth, maturity, and household economics, rather than age alone, influence marriage timing.

Use Cases

• Modeling familial influence on marriage decisions based on described network roles of parents and relatives.
• Analyzing thematic reasons for early marriage based on cited factors like physical growth, maturity, and honor.
• Studying cross-generational transmission of norms based on the persistent themes across participants and generations mentioned.
• Visualizing decision-making networks based on the created social network maps described in the methods.

Strengths

• Includes qualitative data from 20 in-depth interviews, providing rich narrative context.
• Focuses on a specific, understudied aspect: wider social network support for child marriage.
• Data is openly shared under a CC-BY-4.0 license, facilitating reuse.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The 2.8 MB file size suggests a small-scale, qualitative dataset, limiting statistical analysis.

Provenance

Source

figshare

Collection Method

Semi-structured in-depth interviews and participatory social network mapping.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05 04 05:30:33; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Three villages in Bangladesh