Prevalence of Emotional Problems among Child Laborers: An Investigation of Child Laborers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Abstract

Child labor is a prevailing problem in modern day society. Child laborers are required to undergo extensive work despite low wages and other legal issues. Child labor is associated with psychological, behavioral, emotional and social impact. Current study aimed at finding the prevalence of emotional problems among child laborers. Child Behavior Checklist was administered for the purpose on 100 child laborers selected through snowball sampling. The results indicated that withdrawn syndrome is positively related to anxious/ depressed syndrome and attention problems, similarly anxious/ depressed is positively related to attention problems. Age of the participants was not related to withdrawn syndrome, anxious/ depressed syndrome and attention problems. Boys did not significantly differ from girls on withdrawn syndrome, anxious/ depressed syndrome and attention problems.

Key Words: Child Labor, Emotional Problems, Withdrawn Syndrome, Anxious/ Depressed Syndrome, Attention Problems