“Imposed Motherhood, Interrupted Childhood”: child marriage, postpartum trauma, and the failure of SDG commitments in Chennai's inner city

Child marriage continues to be a deeply rooted tradition in some urban Indian communities, such as Sowcarpet, where cultural conventions, economic vulnerability, and patriarchal norms combine to normalize the early marriage of girls between 12 and 18 years of age. This qualitative study employs a descriptive phenomenological approach to analyze the emotional and psychological consequences of child marriage among eight adolescent brides, using snowball sampling and detailed oral accounts to examine child marriage as a form of sexual and psychological abuse. The analysis identifies five key themes, namely, cultural grooming, emotional isolation, postpartum trauma, power imbalance, and silent resistance. The findings reveal that adolescents experience severe psychological distress, including postpartum depression and symptoms of psychosis, highlighting the terror and confusion faced by girls who are emotionally immature yet compelled into motherhood. These experiences disrupt identity formation and contribute to intergenerational trauma, affecting both the girls' development and their children's wellbeing. This article situates these findings within feminist and trauma-informed frameworks, asserting that child marriage constitutes both a developmental injustice and a violation of bodily autonomy. It further calls for reforms aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals 5.3, 4, 10, and 16.