Reconstructing Cultural Values Through Community Socialization to Transform the Social Stigma of Child Marriage: A Qualitative Study in an Indonesian Islamic Secondary School

Abstract

Background. Child marriage persists as a major development and child-protection challenge in Indonesia, sustained less by legal gaps than by deeply embedded cultural values and social stigma that frame early marriage as moral and economic protection for girls. Purpose. This study examines how a structured, dialogue-based socialization programme can reconstruct local cultural values and thereby shift community stigma surrounding child marriage, without erasing local cultural identity. Method. A qualitative descriptive-analytic design was employed at Madrasah Aliyah As’adiyah Uloe, South Sulawesi. Data were generated through participant observation of socialization activities, in-depth interviews with purposively selected informants (students, parents, customary and religious leaders, and field facilitators), and documentary analysis. Data were analysed using the interactive model of Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña, with source and technique triangulation to ensure trustworthiness. Findings. The stigma positioning early marriage as a safeguard against premarital sex (zina) and economic burden was renegotiated through a three-stage value process – neutralization, replacement, and validation. Reframing “family honour” from “a daughter quickly married” to “a daughter educated and empowered,” articulated in local religious and customary language by trusted opinion leaders, moved community orientation from permissive to selective and preventive. Implications. Cultural reconstruction offers a transferable, culturally grounded model for child-marriage prevention, suggesting that education and child-protection policy should move from instructive, top-down campaigns toward persuasive, dialogue-based engagement that recruits local values as instruments of change.