Children who work in the street in Izmir, Turkey

Abstract

Using Izmir, Turkey as a case study the risk factors leading children to work in the streets were identified. Participants in the study were 226 children working in the streets, average age 10.35±2.21 who worked 6.8±2.11 hours per day. The great majority of the children were boys (90.2%), 77.9% were of primary school age; two-thirds of the children were working to provide an economic contribution to the family; 86.6% were from a large family; 78.8% were from a family that migrated to a big city. Almost all did not find working in the street safe; and nearly half were not hopeful about the future. It was established that frequent problems in the children's families include poverty, unemployment, poor education, having a large family, poor family functioning, migration, limited possibilities of shelter, and domestic violence, including the beating of wives and children. Although nearly all the children still lived with their families, a small percentage of the children (5.8%) had begun living permanently on the streets and then cut ties with their families. A significant relationship was found between living on the streets and the age of the child, the father's education, and the father's use of alcohol.

How do low-income Kurdish migrant families in Turkey negotiate child/adolescent characteristics in child labor decisions? Insights from Kurdish mothers

“…Similar to studies in other developing countries, such as Bangladesh (Salmon, 2005) and Ecuador (Lopez-Acevedo, 2002), boys are more likely to work than girls in Turkey (Karatay, 2000; Yılmaz and Dülgerler, 2011). Of the 226 children working on the street in Yılmaz and Dülgerler’s study (2011), 90% were boys. In Kıral and Tıraş ’s (2013) urban sample of “Working Child 2006”, 73% of working children between the ages six and 17 were male.…”

“…Various studies found that boys were more likely than girls to start working when their fathers’ employment prospects were poor (Dayıoğlu, 2006; Yılmaz and Dülgerler, 2011). However, the findings in this study were different, adding nuances to the understanding of the relationship between gender and child labor.…”

“…Yılmaz and Dülgerler’s study (2011) with 226 street-working children between the ages six to 18 in Izmir also found that 83.2% of the children were between the ages of 7 to 11, suggesting that older children may have moved to work in other industries. Yılmaz (2008) found a similar trajectory in an inner-city neighborhood of Istanbul where children between ages six and 13 mostly worked on the street (e.g.…”

Children’s experience of physical harms and exposure to family violence from others’ drinking in nine societies

“…In India, men who were episodic drinkers were more likely to report alcohol-related physical abuse, psychological harm and neglect of children than current abstainers (Esser et al, 2017). Qualitative research has also described how a father's alcohol use was identified as a cause of children running away and using inhalants in India (Praharaj, Verma, & Arora, 2008), and paternal drinking was linked to children living on the streets of Izmir, Turkey (Yilmaz & Dulgerler, 2011). In Ghana, care of children was compromised by the heavy drinking of both male and female caregivers (Yarney, Mba, & Asampong, 2015).…”

Should They Work or Should They Not? Low-Income Kurdish Migrant Mothers’ Beliefs and Attitudes About Child Labor

“…Various studies have investigated the relationship between child labor and various demographic characteristics of both children and families, including gender, age, child birth order, parental education level, and household size (e.g., Acar 2010;Acaroğlu 2010;Akşit et al 2001;Dayıoğlu 2006;Kıral and Tıras 2013;Yılmaz and Dülgerler 2011). However, little is known about parental ethnotheories on child labor.…”