Cultural Influences On Women's Health

Cultural Influences Upon Women's Health Social, religious, and cultural influences affect women's health. Describe a cultural practice that either has a positive or negative effect on a woman's physical and/ or mental health.

There are several cultural practices that have a negative effect on a woman’s physical and mental health state. This discussion contribution will be speaking on the cause and effect of early marriage of young female children. Many cultures still practice the tradition of marrying off their daughters at a very young age. To them and their culture it is common and is not looked at as abnormal. These young females are undereducated, undervalued and often malnourished. The family of the young aged female often benefits from a dowry or in turn are responsible to send forth a dowry at the marriage of the bride to her husband. Locations that still have this act in practice are as follows but, not limit to; East Africa, Nigeria, South Asia, Guatemala and India. Marrying at such a young age will most likely result in early childbearing. When a young female has a child at an early age there can be severe consequences to the health of the young mother and their child. “Infants born to teenage mothers are up to 80 percent more likely to die within their first year than are infants …show more content…
Premature pregnancy will carry significant risks to a young females’ health. Additionally, we must assess for the possible mental impairment that a young female may be susceptible to from these series of events. These young females often go from being under the rule of their fathers to being under the rule of a husband. They are often mistreated and not valued. They are not usually allowed to have friends and several of them end up being victims of domestic violence. All of these situations place a big part of the psychosocial aspect of an