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Abstract

Early marriage is a cultural issue that is mostly present in Arab countries and specially Egypt. It remains excessively affecting girls and endangering their livelihoods and lives. Many researchers have studied this issue and have found out some factors that affect the rate of early marriage. Also, researchers found about the consequences of this issues. However, the literature did not give an image on how the people perceive early marriage in Egypt or the attitudes of the individuals towards this issue. 160 AUC students were surveyed, and 1 specialist was interviewed during this study. It was found out that 98% of the participants disagree on the idea of early marriage, which is the marriage before the age of 18. Also, about 80% of the participants believed that early marriage is either forced by the cultural values of parents or forced by the economic needs of the family. Taken the limitation of the study into consideration, AUC students are not the most appropriate sample to test such a sensitive cultural issue because they do not represent variety of social classes; they are nearly of the same high social class. Moreover, AUC students are not a representative sample of the Egyptian society because they represent a very small percentage of Egypt’s population. This study have known about the attitudes of AUC students towards early marriage in Egypt and it is a part of numerous studies that attempt to know and understand more about one of the complex culture issues in the Egyptian society like early marriages. Therefore, this will enhance further future research on the same topic.

32 Pages