**6. Conclusions**

The study unravels important and interesting issues for understanding decisions of leaving violent relationships among women who marry o ff as children (below 18 years). While it undoubtedly presents an intricate exposition of the young women's experience of violent unions, it also describes the complexity of the relationships, and especially the structural forces that the young women encounter in making decisions and taking actions to leave the relationships. It shows that, at the end of it all, the decisions to leave boiled down to agential powers and resources held by, and accessed from, the young women's environment.

Key among the resources is parental support, which emerged as a key facilitative factor for young women to leave violent relationships in the context of child marriage within a low resource setting. Therefore, interventions to improve the quality of parenting and the safety of homes can create an enabling environment that may not only encourage girls to leave violent unions but also prevent incidences of child marriage in the long run. Such interventions include trainings to equip parents/guardians with positive parenting skills, household economic strengthening programmes to improve parents'/guardians' capacities to provide for their families and community dialogues to challenge and change negative social norms that normalise violence against children and women.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualisation, E.N., F.T., E.O. and G.G.; methodology, E.N., F.T., E.O. and G.G.; formal Analysis, E.K.N., F.T., E.A.O. and G.G.; investigation, E.K.N., F.T. and E.A.O.; data curation, E.K.N., F.T., E.O. and G.G.; writing—original draft preparation, E.N., F.T. and E.O.; writing—review & editing, G.G.; project administration, E.N., F.T. and E.O. and G.G.; funding acquisition, E.O. and G.G. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This publication is based on the None in Three research, funded by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through the Global Challenges Research Fund (project reference: AH/P014240/1). The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of its authors and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the UKRI.

**Acknowledgments:** We are grateful to the women who participated in this study for accepting to share their life experiences with us. Gratitude is also extended to the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), whose funding made the study possible.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funding sponsors had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, and in the decision to publish the results.
