Key Social Norms Take-aways The study highlights powerful injunctive norms in humanitarian settings that contribute to harmful practices linking rape and early marriage. In South Kivu, DRC, both adolescent girls and caregivers commonly view marriage as the appropriate response to rape—particularly when the perpetrator is known. These norms reflect and reinforce the belief that a girl’s sexual purity defines her value, and that marriage restores lost social worth. The study emphasizes that even as communities may publicly denounce gender-based violence, persistent norms around virginity, family honor, and male sexual entitlement normalize coerced marriage and suppress survivor agency.

Objectives To explore the relationship between forced sex and early marriage among adolescent girls in a conflict-affected setting and examine how perceived social norms influence beliefs and practices related to these experiences.

Methods The study used a mixed-methods design, analyzing baseline quantitative data from 377 girls aged 13–14 in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, who participated in the COMPASS program. Quantitative data were collected via structured surveys using Audio Computer-Assisted Self-Interview (ACASI) for sensitive questions. Additionally, 30 in-depth interviews with girls and 31 with their caregivers were analyzed thematically to capture attitudes and social norms surrounding forced sex and marriage.

Intervention Details The study is based on baseline data from the COMPASS program (Creating Opportunities through Mentorship, Parental Involvement, and Safe Spaces), a girls’ empowerment and life skills initiative that included a parenting component. However, this article reports findings from before the intervention’s effects were measured and does not evaluate its impact directly.

Results Married girls were significantly more likely than unmarried girls to report experiencing forced sex (37% vs. 18%) and to believe that their community would force them to marry their rapist (47% vs. 31%). Qualitative data supported these findings, revealing that both girls and caregivers often saw marriage to a known perpetrator as expected, while stranger-perpetrated rape was more likely to prompt legal or medical responses. Within marriage, forced sex was rarely labeled as abuse—many viewed it as a husband’s right.

Conclusions In conflict-affected communities, norms around purity, gender roles, and marriage shape both perceptions and lived experiences of violence. Programs must engage communities holistically to challenge the normalization of coerced marriage and address the multiple, intersecting norms that sustain gender-based violence against girls.