Latinx Child Research Articles

Work Safety Culture of Latinx Child Farmworkers in North Carolina.

Little research has addressed the safety environment of child farmworkers. This analysis examines the work safety culture experienced by Latinx child farmworkers in North Carolina. Survey interviews were conducted in 2017 with 202 Latinx children aged 10 to 17 years employed on North Carolina farms. Analysis included measures of the behavioral, situational, and psychological elements of work safety culture. The work culture on North Carolina farms employing Latinx child farmworkers places limited value on safety. Behaviorally, many did not wear appropriate work clothing (e.g., 47.5% wore gloves, 37.1% wore boots). Situationally, few received safety training for tools (40.6%), machinery (24.3%), or pesticides (26.0%); about one-third (33.7%) had worked piece-rate; and many did not have field sanitation services available (e.g., 37.1% had water for washing, 19.8% had soap). Safety attitudes were mixed, and work safety climate was low, with 21.8% stating that their supervisor was only interested in doing the job fast and cheaply. Greater safety training, field sanitation services, and work safety climate were associated with working in western North Carolina, migrant workers, limited English fluency, and working in tomatoes. Wearing appropriate work clothing, not working piece-rate, fewer unsafe work attitudes were associated with working in eastern North Carolina, seasonal worker, speaking English, and working in tobacco. This research makes it apparent that efforts are needed to improve safety culture wherever child farmworkers are employed. Current policy is not providing a safe environment for children working on farms in the United States.

Heat-Related Illness Among Latinx Child Farmworkers in North Carolina: A Mixed-Methods Study.

Children as young as ten are legally hired for farm work. In North Carolina, many of these hired children are Latinx; they often work long hours during hot and humid summer conditions. Heat-related illness occurs along a continuum of severity ranging from heat cramps and rashes to heat exhaustion and heat stroke, which can be fatal. The literature on the negative health effects of occupational heat exposure is growing; however, few studies have examined this exposure and health outcomes among child agricultural workers. To understand Latinx child farmworkers' experiences of working in heat, we conducted in-depth interviews (n = 30). To estimate the prevalence of heat-related illness symptoms and associated factors, we conducted survey interviews (n = 165). Heat-related illness is common among these child farmworkers. While children often understand the dangers of working in heat, work organization often prevents their taking precautions. Formal workplace protections to prevent heat-related illness are limited.

Health and Occupational Injury Experienced by Latinx Child Farmworkers in North Carolina, USA.

Children as young as 10 years old are hired to work on farms in the United States (U.S.). These children are largely Latinx. Using interview data collected from 202 North Carolina Latinx child farmworkers in 2017, this analysis documents the heath characteristics and occupational injuries of Latinx child farmworkers and delineates characteristics associated with their health and occupational injuries. Latinx child farmworkers include girls (37.6%) and boys (62.4%), aged 10 to 17 years, with 17.8% being migrant farmworkers. Three-quarters reported receiving medical and dental care in the past year. Respiratory (15.8%) and vision (20.3%) problems were prevalent. Girls more than boys, and younger more than older children had greater health service utilization. Occupational injuries were common, with 26.2% reporting a traumatic injury, 44.1% a dermatological injury, 42.6% a musculoskeletal injury, and 45.5% heat-related illness in the past year. Age increased the odds of reporting work injuries and heat-related illness, and being a non-migrant reduced the odds of reporting work injuries. These results emphasize the need for greater documentation of child farmworker occupational health and safety. They underscore the need to change occupational safety policy to ensure that children working in agriculture have the same protections as those working in all other U.S. industries.

"Be careful!" Perceptions of work-safety culture among hired Latinx child farmworkers in North Carolina.

Children as young as 10 years of age can be hired to work on farms. Many of these hired child farmworkers are Latinx. Although these children experience high rates of injury, little research has addressed work-safety perceptions among hired Latinx child farmworkers. For this qualitative study, we conducted in-depth interviews in North Carolina in 2016 with 30 Latinx child farmworkers, ages 10 to 17. Our analysis used the work-safety culture conceptual framework to delineate their perceptions of the psychological, behavioral, and situational elements of safety culture. The child farmworkers describe a weak work-safety culture. Psychologically, they understand that their parents want them to be safe, but they observe that safety is important to only a fraction of their supervisors and coworkers. Behaviorally, they recognize many of the hazards they confront while working, but it is not clear how well they use this knowledge to mitigate these hazards or to change their behaviors to avoid these hazards. Situationally, several children note that the only safety training they receive is the imperative to "be careful." Most receive little formal training, much of the training they receive is informally provided by family members and coworkers rather than supervisors, and their training is geared more toward how to complete a task than how to complete the task safely. Child farmworkers perceive that work-safety culture is of limited importance in agriculture. Regulations are needed that improve work-safety culture in agriculture, especially for those vulnerable due to minority age.

Hired Latinx child farm labor in North Carolina: The demand-support-control model applied to a vulnerable worker population.

US government child labor policies allow children as young as age 10 to be hired as workers on farms not operated by family members. Children may face substantial health risks in an industry known for high worker morbidity and mortality rates, due to high demands for productivity, and low control and little support because of the organization of the workplace. This paper examines how child farmworkers in North Carolina experience their work situation. In-depth interviews conducted in 2016 with 30 Latinx child farmworkers, ages 10 to 17, were analyzed using concepts from the demand-control-support model. All had worked as either migrant or seasonal hired farmworkers within the past year. Children reported planting, cultivating, and harvesting crops including fruits, vegetables, and tobacco. The crew leader supervisory system, piece-rate pay, and coworker pressure produced significant demands to work quickly and take risks including lifting heavy loads, operating mechanical equipment, and working in excessive heat. Children had little control over work to counter demands they experienced; and they labored in a state of fear of firing, wage theft, and other sanctions. Support was variable, with younger children more likely to experience family and coworker support than older children. The high demands with limited control and, for some, little support, that these children experience place them at risk and show the possibility of injury and exploitation. Future research should systematically document the occupational injury and illness of hired child farmworkers, and consider whether changes in labor policy are warranted.

Skin color as a predictor of mental health in young Latinx children

RationaleRacial phenotype shapes the ways in which others perceive and interact with children, with implications for their immediate and long-term well-being. Still, few empirical studies have examined these links in Latinx children. ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to investigate the association between skin color, as a salient marker of racial phenotype, and the mental health of young, Latinx children. MethodsThe present study was conducted in the United States between 2010 and 2013. Participants (N = 684) were Mexican- and Dominican origin 4 - 5-year olds who were rated based on their skin tone as “moderately dark” (54%), “honorary white” (35%), and “collective black” (11%). Regression models were used to estimate the association between skin color (measured at age 4–5) and internalizing and externalizing behaviors (measured at the end of first grade). ResultsBy the end of first grade, “collective black” children had higher ratings on several indicators of internalizing and externalizing problems compared to their “honorary white” peers; this pattern was particularly pronounced for girls. Moreover, the association between externalizing behaviors at baseline and first grade was stronger among children with dark, relative to light, skin color. ConclusionsThese findings suggest that darker-skinned Latinx children may be at increased risk for more severe and/or more persistent mental health problems, perhaps due to discrimination based on their skin color. In order to develop intervention strategies to prevent mental health problems in the Latinx child population, future research is needed to examine how racism may manifest, particularly in teacher-student and parent-child interactions, in the everyday experiences of young children.

Latinx child farmworkers in North Carolina: Study design and participant baseline characteristics.

Although children as young as 10 years can work in agriculture, little research has addressed their occupational health. This paper describes a large, multicomponent study of hired Latinx child farmworkers, and the characteristics of children participating in this study. Survey interviews were conducted in 2017 with 202 Latinx children aged 10-17 years employed in agriculture across North Carolina (NC). Most (81.2%) participants were born in the United States, 37.6% were female, and 21.3% were aged 10-13 years. Most (95.1%) were currently enrolled in school. Thirty-six (17.8%) were migrant workers. 34.7% had worked in agriculture for 1 year; 18.3% had worked 4+ years. 33.7% worked piece rate. 57.4% worked in tobacco. Participants in western NC differed in personal and occupational characteristics from those in eastern NC. This study has enrolled a large and diverse child farmworker sample. This overview indicates several important issues for further analysis.

Crisis Management and the LatinX Child

AbstractThis article takes into consideration Valeria Luiselli’s Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions, a nonfictional work about unaccompanied Central American minors coming to the United States and the immigration questionnaire they must navigate to determine their US admissibility. The essay explores how the Northern Triangle’s minor—the outré LatinX child—is made into the word on bureaucratic paper. It probes a genealogy of temporary American beginnings and delves into the expulsed Central American child as a newcomer, a migrant, and the beginning of something else: a LatinX phenomenon of—and in—crisis.

Substantiated Reports of Sexual Abuse among Latinx Children: Multilevel Models of National Data

Despite a rapidly growing U.S. Latinx child population and this group’s representation in the child welfare system (CWS), limited research exists on Latinx children reported to the CWS for child sexual abuse (CSA). This study examined how the intersection of race/ethnicity, age, and biological sex impact case substantiation among Latinx, Black, and White children reported for CSA. We analyzed 2012 National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System Child File data using generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) to examine a sample of children reported to the CWS for CSA (n = 179,199). GLMMs indicated that among children reported for CSA, Black (AOR = 1.12) and White (AOR = 1.17) children had significantly higher odds of case substantiation compared to Latinx children, controlling for other factors. Main effects indicate older children (in mean-centered years; OR = 1.09) and female children (OR = 2.52) had higher odds of substantiation. Out of the states included in the post-hoc analysis, 16 (84%) had female to male substantiation ratios that were higher for Latinx children compared to White children. In these same states, only 9 (56%) had ratios for Black children that were higher than the rate for White children. Results indicate it is critical to continue examining how child sex, race/ethnicity, age, and state differences may affect CSA case substantiation rates. These findings underscore the importance of providing accessible culturally and linguistically appropriate CWS services that are also responsive to sex and developmental stage.

Slow Death (Sovereignty, Obesity, Lateral Agency)

754 Many thanks to Dipesh Chakrabarty, Geoff Eley, Dana Luciano, Nasser Hussain, Roger Rouse, Adam Thurschwell, and Martha Umphrey for their meticulous engagements, as well as to audiences at Amherst, Johns Hopkins, the University of Wisconsin, the University of Chicago, American Political Science Association, American Studies Association, and Cleveland State. Special nostalgic thanks to Virginia Chang, my original collaborator in the Obesity and Poverty conference (2002). 1. See David Harvey, “The Body as Accumulation Strategy,” Spaces of Hope (Berkeley, 2000), pp. 97–116. To call Harvey polemical is not to devalue his profound contributions to understanding the productive destructiveness of capital; in his work, a polemic is a call for precision, not a way of drowning it out. Slow Death (Sovereignty, Obesity, Lateral Agency)

Slow Death (Sovereignty, Obesity, Lateral Agency)

Slow Death (Sovereignty, Obesity, Lateral Agency)