Effects of Gender Role Beliefs on Social Connectivity and Marital Safety: Findings From a Cross-Sectional Study Among Married Adolescent Girls in India.
Outcomes: Child, Early, and Forced Marriage, Gender‑Based Violence
View SourceKey Social Norms Take-aways Progressive gender role beliefs—supporting female marital choice, shared household decision-making, male involvement in childcare, and rejecting the acceptability of marital violence—are associated with improved social and digital connectivity, greater freedom of movement, and enhanced safety from marital violence among married adolescent girls. This underscores the importance of transforming restrictive gender norms to increase agency and reduce vulnerability in marriage. However, the complex and sometimes contradictory associations also suggest that not all progressive beliefs uniformly lead to safer outcomes, highlighting the need for targeted norm-shifting interventions that are contextually sensitive.
Objectives To examine how gender role beliefs influence social connection, digital access, freedom of movement, and marital safety among married adolescent girls in rural India, and to assess the role of caste/religion-related beliefs alongside gender norms.
Methods The study uses cross-sectional data from 4,893 married adolescent girls (ages 15–19) from the 2015–2016 UDAYA study in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Researchers assessed associations between specific gender role beliefs and outcomes related to social and digital connectivity, mobility, and experiences of marital violence using adjusted logistic regression models. Analyses accounted for sociodemographic factors and caste/religion-related beliefs.
Intervention Details Not applicable. This is a secondary data analysis of observational data, not an intervention study.
Results Beliefs supporting female marital choice and economic decision-making were associated with more social time with peers and increased freedom of movement. Beliefs supporting female marital choice and male childcare were associated with higher mobile phone ownership and internet access, respectively. Notably, rejecting the acceptability of marital violence and supporting male childcare responsibilities were both linked to lower odds of experiencing marital violence. However, belief in female marital choice was unexpectedly associated with lower odds of marital safety, suggesting complex interactions between norms and lived experiences. Caste/religion beliefs were also positively associated with connectivity outcomes but not with marital safety.
Conclusions Gender role beliefs are important determinants of adolescent girls’ agency within marriage. Interventions aiming to reduce gender-based violence and improve girls’ wellbeing should directly address these beliefs and the broader social norms that sustain them. The findings also point to the necessity of understanding how specific beliefs affect different dimensions of agency, and caution against assuming uniform benefit from “progressive” gender norms without contextual nuance.
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