Background: Child marriage research and programming often center on prevention and the health consequences of early pregnancy. Less attention has been given to married adolescent girls themselves, including how they navigate pressure to bear children, conform to social expectations, and imagine their futures. This gap is especially important in Niger, where child marriage prevalence is the highest in the world, and poverty and gender inequality further shape girls’ lives.

Purpose: This study examined how married adolescent girls in Niger described their aspirations, their perceived role in decisions about the future, and the conditions that supported or constrained those goals.

Methods: This qualitative secondary analysis used 18 endline in-depth interviews with married adolescent girls who participated in the IMAGINE program in Niger. Thematic analysis was conducted in NVivo and guided by the Social Ecological Model. Coding combined deductive codes from the research questions and interview domains with inductive codes developed from the transcripts. Analytic rigor was supported through memoing, a decision log, faculty-advisor review, and consensus discussion after independent transcript coding.

Results: Participants’ future goals centered most often on income generation, but girls connected economic activity to household support and independence, not only earning money. Children were widely valued, and fertility timing also shaped their aspirations. Some participants described spacing or delaying birth as beneficial, while others emphasized the importance of demonstrating fertility. Across these accounts, husbands held substantial authority over mobility, work, and family planning. Girls still described forms of agency, including negotiating and using program knowledge to communicate more effectively. Support from parents, husbands, peers, and relatives influenced whether goals appeared feasible as well. Participants also attributed changes in livelihood skills, confidence, and community awareness to IMAGINE, although economic and relational constraints remained.

Conclusions: Married adolescent girls in Niger articulated futures that combined economic, family, and social aims. Their aspirations were neither absent nor fully self-directed and were pursued within a context of limited support and diverse constraints. Findings suggest prioritizing married adolescents as a distinct population in research, policy, and programming. Interventions should both identify and address their unique needs and the conditions that shape their lives.