International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Jun 2, 2022
Working in factories fashioning bricks by hand seems the epitome of hazardous child labor. Yet, e... more Working in factories fashioning bricks by hand seems the epitome of hazardous child labor. Yet, efforts to remove children from this work have shown little success; impoverished families balance the value of their children's contribution against the risks they see. Unfortunately, psychosocial impacts are often not visible, and are rarely taken into consideration when designing interventions. A comprehensive occupational health study of children working in brick factories included a module on psychosocial risks and impacts. This analysis reports on the Pakistan and Afghanistan portion of the study which was administered to 450 child brick workers and 486 controls, aged 11-17. Factorial ANOVAs confirmed that working in brick factories was the strongest predictor of respondent's psychosocial health. However, they also identified subgroups of children that escape this prediction. Older girls, for example, actually felt better when working, compared with staying at home. Schooling had positive associations, especially in younger boys and adolescent girls. In fact, the results of this study showed that those who are at greatest psychosocial risk were girls who do not go to school. These findings underscore the importance of assessing psychosocial impacts and tailoring policy and interventions to specific gender and age categories of young workers.
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2019
Cette étude a pour objectif d'analyser la qualité de vie perçue d'enfants et d'adolescents qui tr... more Cette étude a pour objectif d'analyser la qualité de vie perçue d'enfants et d'adolescents qui travaillent dans des fabriques de briques au Népal, au Bangladesh, au Pakistan et en Afghanistan, soit dans le secteur économique où le nombre d'enfants travailleurs augmente encore actuellement. La qualité de vie perçue des enfants est comparée à celle d'enfants contrôles qui ne travaillent pas dans ces fabriques. L'étude menée par l'O.I.T porte sur 1600 enfants de 8 à 18 ans. Des ACP, des classifications en nuées dynamiques et des régressions permettent de a) établir la fiabilité du questionnaire, b) déterminer les différentes dimensions de la qualité de vie, c) identifier des clusters d'enfants correspondant à des profils psychosociaux particuliers et d) évaluer l'effet du travail sur ces derniers. Cette étude apporte ainsi des arguments chiffrés sur la nocivité du travail dans les fabriques de briques sur tous les aspects de la qualité de vie. Mots clés: qualité de vie, bien-être psychosocial, enfants, travail, fabriques de briques.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Working in factories fashioning bricks by hand seems the epitome of hazardous child labor. Yet, e... more Working in factories fashioning bricks by hand seems the epitome of hazardous child labor. Yet, efforts to remove children from this work have shown little success; impoverished families balance the value of their children’s contribution against the risks they see. Unfortunately, psychosocial impacts are often not visible, and are rarely taken into consideration when designing interventions. A comprehensive occupational health study of children working in brick factories included a module on psychosocial risks and impacts. This analysis reports on the Pakistan and Afghanistan portion of the study which was administered to 450 child brick workers and 486 controls, aged 11–17. Factorial ANOVAs confirmed that working in brick factories was the strongest predictor of respondent’s psychosocial health. However, they also identified subgroups of children that escape this prediction. Older girls, for example, actually felt better when working, compared with staying at home. Schooling had po...
Hazardous child labour has deep and complex roots, so short-term approaches have little impact. C... more Hazardous child labour has deep and complex roots, so short-term approaches have little impact. Can research, such as that conducted by Young Lives or OIT, which subjects our assumptions to hard evidence, give us the clues on how best to address both the urgent and the fundamental
Cette étude a pour objectif d'analyser la qualité de vie perçue d'enfants et d'adolescents qui tr... more Cette étude a pour objectif d'analyser la qualité de vie perçue d'enfants et d'adolescents qui travaillent dans des fabriques de briques au Népal, au Bangladesh, au Pakistan et en Afghanistan, soit dans le secteur économique où le nombre d'enfants travailleurs augmente encore actuellement. La qualité de vie perçue des enfants est comparée à celle d'enfants contrôles qui ne travaillent pas dans ces fabriques. L'étude menée par l'O.I.T porte sur 1600 enfants de 8 à 18 ans. Des ACP, des classifications en nuées dynamiques et des régressions permettent de a) établir la fiabilité du questionnaire, b) déterminer les différentes dimensions de la qualité de vie, c) identifier des clusters d'enfants correspondant à des profils psychosociaux particuliers et d) évaluer l'effet du travail sur ces derniers. Cette étude apporte ainsi des arguments chiffrés sur la nocivité du travail dans les fabriques de briques sur tous les aspects de la qualité de vie. Mots clés: qualité de vie, bien-être psychosocial, enfants, travail, fabriques de briques.
Neglect ystems and strategies for identifying and enumerating children utside * of family care
rticle history: Methodologies to identify and enumerate children outside of family care vary as d... more rticle history: Methodologies to identify and enumerate children outside of family care vary as do the eceived 7 September 2012 vulnerability categories of the children themselves. Children outside of family care is a ccepted 7 September 2012 broad term encompassing children absent of permanent family care, e.g., institutionalized vailable online 18 October 2012 children, children on/of the street, child-headed households, separated or unaccompanied children, trafficked children, children working in exploitive labor situations, etc. This paper eywords: reviews the various methodologies applied to identify and enumerate these often hidden apture recapture and/or mobile populations. Methodologies that identify and enumerate children outside amily care ousehold of family strive to meet two objectives: (1) to estimate the number and characteristics of a specific vulnerability category and driven (2) to determine eligibility to espondent receive services. treet children The paper reviews...
Mental health of child workers: Results from a case-control study of the brick manufacturing industry in four countries
Objectives Internationally, brick kilns employ tens of thousands of children. Due to extreme pove... more Objectives Internationally, brick kilns employ tens of thousands of children. Due to extreme poverty facing families who work in this industry, child labor in this sector has been challenging to eliminate. This study assesses the association between brick kiln work and child mental health in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan. Method Working children (aged 11-17 years) were identified from up to three brick kiln sites in each country. Nonworking controls, matched for age, sex, and socioeconomic status were identified from nearby communities. Trained interviewers administered translated, semi-structured questionnaires to consenting respondents. Results 918 working and 565 nonworking children participated. Compared to nonworking children, working children experienced more stress and somatic stress. On a scale of 1 to 3 (1=lowest, 3=highest), the mean difference between the child groups for stress and somatic stress was 0.27 (99% CI:0.20-0.33) and 0.28 (99% CI:0.23-0.33), res...
Dilemmas in tackling child labour: The case of scavenger children in the Philippines
Int'l Lab. Rev., 1992
... The children were particularly disadvantaged in verbal ability, problem-solving, ability to a... more ... The children were particularly disadvantaged in verbal ability, problem-solving, ability to absorb new material, and ability to plan ahead - skills which are critical for school performance. ... Dilemmas in tackling child labour lack of opportunity for intellectual growth in the environment ...
Objectives Internationally, brick kilns employ tens of thousands of children. Due to the extreme ... more Objectives Internationally, brick kilns employ tens of thousands of children. Due to the extreme poverty facing families who work in this industry, child labour in this sector has been challenging to eliminate. This study assesses the association between brick kiln work and self-reported injuries among children working in brick kilns in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan. Method A mixed-methods approach developed by an international team was translated and tailored for each country. Working children (aged 11-17) were identified from 1-3 brick kiln sites. Non-working controls, matched for age, sex, and socioeconomic status were identified from nearby communities. Trained interviewers administered semi-structured questionnaires to all consenting respondents. Results 917 working children and 788 controls participated in the study. Overall, 65.1% of cases and 29.5% of controls reported experiencing a minor cut or bruises in the last month. The estimated odds ratio (OR) of recent injury was 3.60 (95% CI: 2.84-4.56) comparing working children to community controls (adjusted for age category, sex, and country). Nearly half (48.8%) of cases and 30.5% of controls reported a "bad cut", broken bone, sprain, or burn in the last year, resulting in an adjusted OR of 2.44 (95% CI: 1.97-3.03) comparing working children to controls. Conclusions While the hazardous nature of brick kiln work may be evident, this study was designed to provide evidence for parents, brick kiln operators, and policy-makers who seek to remove children from this work. Additionally, this work demonstrates a model for action-oriented, occupational health and safety research in challenging environments.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Jun 2, 2022
Working in factories fashioning bricks by hand seems the epitome of hazardous child labor. Yet, e... more Working in factories fashioning bricks by hand seems the epitome of hazardous child labor. Yet, efforts to remove children from this work have shown little success; impoverished families balance the value of their children's contribution against the risks they see. Unfortunately, psychosocial impacts are often not visible, and are rarely taken into consideration when designing interventions. A comprehensive occupational health study of children working in brick factories included a module on psychosocial risks and impacts. This analysis reports on the Pakistan and Afghanistan portion of the study which was administered to 450 child brick workers and 486 controls, aged 11-17. Factorial ANOVAs confirmed that working in brick factories was the strongest predictor of respondent's psychosocial health. However, they also identified subgroups of children that escape this prediction. Older girls, for example, actually felt better when working, compared with staying at home. Schooling had positive associations, especially in younger boys and adolescent girls. In fact, the results of this study showed that those who are at greatest psychosocial risk were girls who do not go to school. These findings underscore the importance of assessing psychosocial impacts and tailoring policy and interventions to specific gender and age categories of young workers.
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2019
Cette étude a pour objectif d'analyser la qualité de vie perçue d'enfants et d'adolescents qui tr... more Cette étude a pour objectif d'analyser la qualité de vie perçue d'enfants et d'adolescents qui travaillent dans des fabriques de briques au Népal, au Bangladesh, au Pakistan et en Afghanistan, soit dans le secteur économique où le nombre d'enfants travailleurs augmente encore actuellement. La qualité de vie perçue des enfants est comparée à celle d'enfants contrôles qui ne travaillent pas dans ces fabriques. L'étude menée par l'O.I.T porte sur 1600 enfants de 8 à 18 ans. Des ACP, des classifications en nuées dynamiques et des régressions permettent de a) établir la fiabilité du questionnaire, b) déterminer les différentes dimensions de la qualité de vie, c) identifier des clusters d'enfants correspondant à des profils psychosociaux particuliers et d) évaluer l'effet du travail sur ces derniers. Cette étude apporte ainsi des arguments chiffrés sur la nocivité du travail dans les fabriques de briques sur tous les aspects de la qualité de vie. Mots clés: qualité de vie, bien-être psychosocial, enfants, travail, fabriques de briques.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Working in factories fashioning bricks by hand seems the epitome of hazardous child labor. Yet, e... more Working in factories fashioning bricks by hand seems the epitome of hazardous child labor. Yet, efforts to remove children from this work have shown little success; impoverished families balance the value of their children’s contribution against the risks they see. Unfortunately, psychosocial impacts are often not visible, and are rarely taken into consideration when designing interventions. A comprehensive occupational health study of children working in brick factories included a module on psychosocial risks and impacts. This analysis reports on the Pakistan and Afghanistan portion of the study which was administered to 450 child brick workers and 486 controls, aged 11–17. Factorial ANOVAs confirmed that working in brick factories was the strongest predictor of respondent’s psychosocial health. However, they also identified subgroups of children that escape this prediction. Older girls, for example, actually felt better when working, compared with staying at home. Schooling had po...
Hazardous child labour has deep and complex roots, so short-term approaches have little impact. C... more Hazardous child labour has deep and complex roots, so short-term approaches have little impact. Can research, such as that conducted by Young Lives or OIT, which subjects our assumptions to hard evidence, give us the clues on how best to address both the urgent and the fundamental
Cette étude a pour objectif d'analyser la qualité de vie perçue d'enfants et d'adolescents qui tr... more Cette étude a pour objectif d'analyser la qualité de vie perçue d'enfants et d'adolescents qui travaillent dans des fabriques de briques au Népal, au Bangladesh, au Pakistan et en Afghanistan, soit dans le secteur économique où le nombre d'enfants travailleurs augmente encore actuellement. La qualité de vie perçue des enfants est comparée à celle d'enfants contrôles qui ne travaillent pas dans ces fabriques. L'étude menée par l'O.I.T porte sur 1600 enfants de 8 à 18 ans. Des ACP, des classifications en nuées dynamiques et des régressions permettent de a) établir la fiabilité du questionnaire, b) déterminer les différentes dimensions de la qualité de vie, c) identifier des clusters d'enfants correspondant à des profils psychosociaux particuliers et d) évaluer l'effet du travail sur ces derniers. Cette étude apporte ainsi des arguments chiffrés sur la nocivité du travail dans les fabriques de briques sur tous les aspects de la qualité de vie. Mots clés: qualité de vie, bien-être psychosocial, enfants, travail, fabriques de briques.
Neglect ystems and strategies for identifying and enumerating children utside * of family care
rticle history: Methodologies to identify and enumerate children outside of family care vary as d... more rticle history: Methodologies to identify and enumerate children outside of family care vary as do the eceived 7 September 2012 vulnerability categories of the children themselves. Children outside of family care is a ccepted 7 September 2012 broad term encompassing children absent of permanent family care, e.g., institutionalized vailable online 18 October 2012 children, children on/of the street, child-headed households, separated or unaccompanied children, trafficked children, children working in exploitive labor situations, etc. This paper eywords: reviews the various methodologies applied to identify and enumerate these often hidden apture recapture and/or mobile populations. Methodologies that identify and enumerate children outside amily care ousehold of family strive to meet two objectives: (1) to estimate the number and characteristics of a specific vulnerability category and driven (2) to determine eligibility to espondent receive services. treet children The paper reviews...
Mental health of child workers: Results from a case-control study of the brick manufacturing industry in four countries
Objectives Internationally, brick kilns employ tens of thousands of children. Due to extreme pove... more Objectives Internationally, brick kilns employ tens of thousands of children. Due to extreme poverty facing families who work in this industry, child labor in this sector has been challenging to eliminate. This study assesses the association between brick kiln work and child mental health in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan. Method Working children (aged 11-17 years) were identified from up to three brick kiln sites in each country. Nonworking controls, matched for age, sex, and socioeconomic status were identified from nearby communities. Trained interviewers administered translated, semi-structured questionnaires to consenting respondents. Results 918 working and 565 nonworking children participated. Compared to nonworking children, working children experienced more stress and somatic stress. On a scale of 1 to 3 (1=lowest, 3=highest), the mean difference between the child groups for stress and somatic stress was 0.27 (99% CI:0.20-0.33) and 0.28 (99% CI:0.23-0.33), res...
Dilemmas in tackling child labour: The case of scavenger children in the Philippines
Int'l Lab. Rev., 1992
... The children were particularly disadvantaged in verbal ability, problem-solving, ability to a... more ... The children were particularly disadvantaged in verbal ability, problem-solving, ability to absorb new material, and ability to plan ahead - skills which are critical for school performance. ... Dilemmas in tackling child labour lack of opportunity for intellectual growth in the environment ...
Objectives Internationally, brick kilns employ tens of thousands of children. Due to the extreme ... more Objectives Internationally, brick kilns employ tens of thousands of children. Due to the extreme poverty facing families who work in this industry, child labour in this sector has been challenging to eliminate. This study assesses the association between brick kiln work and self-reported injuries among children working in brick kilns in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan. Method A mixed-methods approach developed by an international team was translated and tailored for each country. Working children (aged 11-17) were identified from 1-3 brick kiln sites. Non-working controls, matched for age, sex, and socioeconomic status were identified from nearby communities. Trained interviewers administered semi-structured questionnaires to all consenting respondents. Results 917 working children and 788 controls participated in the study. Overall, 65.1% of cases and 29.5% of controls reported experiencing a minor cut or bruises in the last month. The estimated odds ratio (OR) of recent injury was 3.60 (95% CI: 2.84-4.56) comparing working children to community controls (adjusted for age category, sex, and country). Nearly half (48.8%) of cases and 30.5% of controls reported a "bad cut", broken bone, sprain, or burn in the last year, resulting in an adjusted OR of 2.44 (95% CI: 1.97-3.03) comparing working children to controls. Conclusions While the hazardous nature of brick kiln work may be evident, this study was designed to provide evidence for parents, brick kiln operators, and policy-makers who seek to remove children from this work. Additionally, this work demonstrates a model for action-oriented, occupational health and safety research in challenging environments.
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