When life is “difficult”: A comparison of street children's and non-street children's priorities

Abstract

Research on street children has typically described the phenomenon and examined the risks of street life to healthy development. Thus far, research has not contextualized street children's psychosocial lives by comparing them with non-street children or street children undergoing rehabilitation. The purpose of this study was to assess how the life priorities of Tanzanian street children, former street children and schoolgoing children (n = 183) differ according to their living environment. The "Importance scale" was designed and validated for this study. It includes 29 four-level Likert items about relationships, activities and family, encompassing two subscales: current well-being (Cronbach's a = 0.65) and preparing for the future (Cronbach's a = 0.72). Data were analyzed using analysis of variance and contingency tables to determine group-level differences. Post-hoc Bonferroni tests determined pairwise differences. The analyses demonstrate significant differences in 14 of 29 priorities according to living context. With only three differences, former street children were more similar to school-going children than they were to street children. Street children and school-going children differed on 12 items, while street children and former street children differed on nine items. Street children considered that obtaining good advice from adults, having a dependable place to sleep and having time for enjoyable activities are most important, while former street children and school-going children pointed to education-related ambitions as most important. Findings show that after just 1 year of rehabilitative care, former street children's priorities are more similar to school-going children's, and thus rehabilitative care may be instrumental in enabling children to prioritize preparing for the future. Street children's emphasis on a safe place to sleep and adult support may reflect unmet basic needs. Former street children's high priorities on education and protecting themselves may represent healthy adaptation and a hopeful orientation to the future. High-quality rehabilitation for homeless youth can fulfill essential needs that may promote positive shifts in street children's priorities.

Assessing Assets Among Street-Connected Youth: New Angles With Participatory Methods in Tanzania

“…Constructive use of time as a strength was also supported by asset cards, and even more prominently in the photovoice, where this asset accounted for images and quotes comprising the first two general themes (i.e., sports participation and work/responsibility). This finding echoes the importance of sports participation and time for recreation voiced by street-connected youth by Nalkur (2009b) and by Hills and colleagues (2016). Together, these findings counter the negative stereotypes of lazy and directionless youth and the “street youth as problem” narrative, instead pointing to adolescent capacities for engaging in active and productive behaviors despite their challenging circumstances.…”

“…Assets shared things in common with those reported by current and former street children in Tanzania. For example, valuing education was similar to former street youth, while valuing a safe place to live was similar to current street youth (Nalkur, 2009b). It is likely that the salience of different assets will change as youth move from context to context.…”

“…A few exceptions exist that point to the importance of both internal and external assets. For example, Nalkur (2009b) conducted a study of the values of street-connected youth, finding that adolescents currently on the street valued good advice from adults, a dependable place to sleep, and time for recreation. In another strengths-focused study among 16 street-connected youth in South Africa, participation in sports, supportive peers, cultural beliefs, and personal/emotional strengths was identified as an area of resilience (Hills, Meyer-Weitz, & Asante, 2016).…”

Violent language in the environment of street children singer-beggars

“…They feel wasted from the family because their parents or other family members let them. Even some of them frequently rebuke them with harsh speech [ 64 , 65 , 66 ].…”

Nonformal education for improving educational outcomes for street children and street youth in developing countries: A systematic review

“…This systematic literature review was designed to elucidate the current state of the evidence in order to provide grounded recommendations for programs and identify gaps to be filled by further research. Most of the extant literature regarding street children focuses on qualitative accounts of their experiences (Aptekar, ; Cheng, ) and descriptive studies of their characteristics (Aderinto, ; Iqbal, ; Nalkur, ). These studies have sometimes included policy recommendations without any effectiveness studies to support such recommendations (Aderinto, ).…”