THE CONSEQUENCES OF CHILD LABOR

      The negative impact on the physiological and psychological levels of children includes specific concerns of child labor and its consequences on mental health. It is worth noting that one-third of children of the developing world are failing to complete even 4 years of education. The analysis of factors leading to engagement of children in hazardous factors elucidated socioeconomic factors as one of the important determinants. Poverty is considered as one of the contributory factors in child labor.

Mental well being is less frequently researched in child labor. A retrospective cohort study in Morocco randomly examined 200 children working in the handicraft sector and found a high prevalence of respiratory, digestive and skin conditions, as well as mental health presentations such as migraines, insomnia, irritability, enuresis and asthenia.

In a cross-sectional survey, urban Lebanese children aged 10–17, working full-time in small industrial shops, were compared with non-working matched school children. Majority of them had poor physical health, predominantly marked with skin lesions or ear complaints and social care needs. Similarly, authors aimed to find out consequences in children in Lebanon exposed to solvents, and found significantly higher rates of lightheadedness, fatigue, impaired memory and depression compared with a non-exposed group. A cross-sectional study in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, used diagnostic interviews to assess prevalence of mental disorders in 528 child laborers and street workers, child domestics and private enterprise workers aged between 5 and 15 years. The prevalence of mental disorders was noted to be as high as 20.1% compared with 12.5% in the general population. Further study to establish the association between labor-related variables and mental health problems was carried out among 780 children engaged in labor (aged 9–18 years) in the Gaza Strip. Mental health problems of children in labor were likely to be associated with socioeconomic determinants as well as factors related to their underage employment.

The physical and social consequences are deliberated by researchers; however, mental health area has not been explored so much. Studies are lacking even in Indian scenario regarding impact of child labor on mental health.