The relationship between head of household characteristics and child deprivation in a South African township

Abstract

Children all over, particularly in the developing world, are increasingly becoming more and more vulnerable as the poverty rate at the household-level remains high. Children’s circumstances are to a great extent dependent on the circumstances of the head of the household. Head of household characteristics, such as employment status, education level, gender, marital status and age among other things, have a direct impact on the children in the household. The paper looks at the relationship between the head of household characteristics and child welfare in the household. The paper uses data collected from households in Boipatong Township in 2013. A child deprivation index was used as a measure of child welfare in the household. A number of questions were used to measure the level of child deprivation. Based on the responses, an index was calculated. An Ordinary Least Squares regression was used to determine the household head characteristics that significantly affect child deprivation. Results from the regression analysis show that there is a significant negative relationship between income and child deprivation. In the sample, the parameter ‘age of the head of household’ shows that the children are less deprived when the parent in the household is older. The results further show that children from families where the parents are married or living together are less deprived than those from single-parent households. Employment status was also found to be an important attribute. The formally employed parents reduced the likelihood of children being deprived as opposed to the unemployed parents whose children were more likely to be deprived.