Search

International audience; 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.

International audience

International audience

Alors que les enfants de la rue suscitent depuis longtemps une litterature scientifique abondante et sont la cible de nombreux programmes de developpement, le phenomene persiste et les projets de reinsertion parviennent difficilement a toucher leur public. Cet article propose de revenir sur ce sujet a partir d’une demarche ethnographique de longue haleine, menee en dehors des projets de developpement, dans la capitale du Burkina Faso. A partir d’une reflexion sur les mouvements de categorisations dont ils font l’objet, des appellations que les enfants se reapproprient et dont ils jouent, l’auteur expose le processus de marginalisation indirectement induit par ces denominations. En s’appuyant sur les representations locales de l’enfance et sur le discours des individus en question, l’article se propose enfin d’explorer une categorisation alternative, en les apprehendant non plus comme des enfants de la rue, mais comme de jeunes migrants qui peinent a integrer le marche de l’emploi.