Hope for the Future, Attachment Relationships, and Emotional-Behavioral Problems in Child Labor

Child labor is an important global issue, because it affects the physical, psychological, and moral well-being of children. Working children are exposed to physical hazards, stress, and psychosocial problems. Therefore, the present study aimed to compare future hope, attachment relationships, and emotional-behavioral problems in working children and their peers.

It was a descriptive study with an ex-post facto research design. The sample included fifty 10-12 year old children from Rasht's Child Labor Institute and fifty peers from an adjacent school who were selected by convenience method based on inclusion criteria. To collect data, Children’s Hope Scale (Schneider et al., 1997), Kinship Center Attachment Questionnaire (Halpern & Copenberg, 2006), and Behavioral Questionnaire for Parents and Teachers (Rutter, 1975) were administered to groups. Independent t-test and multivariate analysis of variance were used for data analysis.

The results of the present study showed that the total index of hope in the child labor group was significantly lower than the peer group (P <0.002), and the total score of emotional-behavioral problems from the parents' point of view (P<0.003), and the total score of emotional-behavioral problems from the teacher' point of view (P <0.001) were significantly higher in the child labor group than other peers. The results also showed that, the mean score of all subscales of the attachment questionnaire, except for emotional response, was significantly lower in child labor than other peers (P <0.001) and the mean score of all subscales of emotional-behavioral problems from the teacher' point of view, was significantly higher in child labor group compared to the other group (P <0.002).

According to the results of the present study, it can be concluded that due to the severe living conditions, the working children do not receive the necessary and adequate support from their families and parents. This, in turn, leads to the lack of secure attachment with parents and lowers the level of hope for future in these children. On the other hand, their working environment is full of physical and sexual misbehaviors which may develop emotional-behavioral problems in them.