The psychological health and well-being of children working in the brick industry: A comparative study

Pellenq, Catherine; Gunn, Susan; Lima, Laurent

doi:10.1016/j.ssci.2021.105251

Cited by 8 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…It accounted for the largest effect size: very strong and negative on the feeling of personal security which is related to family and social support, and hope for a better life (0.358), and positive on the feeling of abuse (0.055) and on experiencing negative emotions—(0.027). The findings from this analysis corroborate those obtained by Pellenq et al (2021) [ 18 ] on a larger, more heterogeneous sample, namely: the hypothesis of a causal relationship between work and the deterioration of psychological health is plausible.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…The analysis presented in this paper draws on a dataset from a multi-country occupational health study of 1556 children working in brick factories [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ]. The study sought to demonstrate a methodology for identifying the categories of child workers which are most likely to need urgent protection and intervention, a requirement for all countries under ILO Convention No.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The child workers evidenced significantly greater psychological stress, insecurity, and negative emotions (e.g., fear, hostility) but none of the ameliorating factors that work with family was expected to have. There was also evidence that girls were experiencing greater psychosocial impacts [ 17 , 18 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Education, Age and Gender: Critical Factors in Determining Interventions for Child Brick Workers in Pakistan and Afghanistan

Pellenq

Lima

Gunn

2022

IJERPH

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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.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Education, Age and Gender: Critical Factors in Determining Interventions for Child Brick Workers in Pakistan and Afghanistan

Pellenq

Lima

Gunn

2022

IJERPH

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“…The association between work and poor mental health has been found to be weaker past the age of 13 [29]. Being a girl has been found to have an overall negative effect with respect to all aspects of wellbeing among working children [20,30]. Combining work and school was found to be associated with poorer mental health outcomes in a study of Jordanian child workers [31], while attending school was found to have a potential protective effect on children working in the brick industry in a multi-country study [20].…”

Section: Study Of Working Children's Wellbeingmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…The cross-sectional design of most studies limits the causal interpretation of their findings [16]. Among the few studies that have been conducted, emotional disorders are found to be more common among child laborers than non-laborers [17][18][19][20]. Time spent on hard and repetitive work, over which children have little control, is identified as a cause of demoralization [21] and exhaustion [22].…”

Section: Study Of Working Children's Wellbeingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Child Labor and Psychosocial Wellbeing: Findings from Ethiopia

d’Andon

Greene

Pellenq

et al. 2022

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For children who work, there has been little research into the intricate relationship between their home lives and their work lives and the implications that this relationship might hold for their psychosocial development and functioning. This cross-sectional study was conducted in the Amhara region, Ethiopia, between March and April 2020 on a sample of 1311 working children with the aim, in part, of exploring ways in which various dimensions of children’s psychological wellbeing are influenced by their working conditions and their family contexts. In addition to collecting data on some personal traits, family relationships, home environments, and detailed occupational characteristics, we gathered information on psychosocial wellbeing using 22 items from the Instrument for the Psychosocial Assessment of Working Children (IPAC). Exploratory factor analysis enabled us to identify five factors characterizing the dimensions of psychosocial wellbeing: work-related self-esteem, work-related stress, workplace supervision, emotional and somatic wellbeing, and self-determination. Linear regressions of these factors were then conducted on social, occupational, and environmental variables. We found that all dimensions of psychosocial wellbeing were significantly associated with the children’s working conditions. Of particular interest, work-related dimensions of wellbeing, such as stress, self-esteem, and supervision, were significantly associated with the characteristics of the home and family environment. These findings illustrate that work and working conditions must be considered jointly, along with family life and home environments, as factors in both environments affect working children’s socioemotional development and wellbeing. They also strengthen the call for a systemic approach to protecting children involved in child labor, in which families are central to all discussions.

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How Do Working Children Feel about Their Lives? And Why It Matters That We Know

Pellenq¹

2022

Handbook of Children’s Risk, Vulnerability and Quality of Life

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The psychological health and well-being of children working in the brick industry: A comparative study

Cited by 8 publications

References 22 publications

Education, Age and Gender: Critical Factors in Determining Interventions for Child Brick Workers in Pakistan and Afghanistan

Education, Age and Gender: Critical Factors in Determining Interventions for Child Brick Workers in Pakistan and Afghanistan

Child Labor and Psychosocial Wellbeing: Findings from Ethiopia

How Do Working Children Feel about Their Lives? And Why It Matters That We Know

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