Urban Poor Families Research Articles

Family Resilience in Urban Extreme Poverty

The impact of poverty causes pressure that weakens family resilience. Although measurements of family resilience are available, there are not many up-to-date measures for urban poor families in Indonesia. The purpose of this study is to describe the profile of family resilience and the conditions of vulnerability of extreme urban poor families. The research subjects were the heads of families (N=416) spread across five sub-districts in the city of Bandung, with the highest number of poverties, where most of the subjects worked as daily laborers. The measurement uses a scale of family resilience through four dimensions: the quality of physical, economic, psychological, social, and family structure as demographic resilience. Data were analyzed with descriptive and correlational statistics using JASP 0.15. The results show that poor families have a level of fulfillment of family resilience qualities of 16.5 percent (12.62 percent on the dimensions of physical endurance, 12.46 percent on the economic dimension, 17.33 percent on the psychological dimension and 19.95 percent on the social dimension). Several dimensions have a significant positive relationship, with the highest level on the relationship between dimensions of physical and economic resilience (r=.768). Six conditions of vulnerability were found, namely related to job instability and income that is less than needed, environmental cleanliness and insufficient food consumption, misunderstanding of family goals, and lack of gratitude for conditions. The research findings show two sub-dimensions in each dimension of social resilience and psychological resilience. Suggestions and implications are directed at recommendations for urban extreme poverty alleviation programs and optimizing family quality programs, especially aspects of independence.

MEDIOS DE VIDA RURALES, POBREZA Y PROTECCIÓN SOCIAL EN UN ANTIGUO PAÍS SOVIÉTICO, KIRGUISTÁN

In Kyrgyzstan, many rural families have tried to escape poverty by migrating to urban centres within the country or abroad. Although the poverty rate has tended to decline over the course of this century, it has recently increased significantly, mainly due to the COVID pandemic and its aftermath. A few years after independence from the USSR (1991), the national government reintroduced a model of social protection, albeit less generous than that of the Soviet era. With some partial reforms, this model has been maintained until today. Its effectiveness seems insufficient, especially the noncontributory component, which supports poor rural and urban families. The situation of the latter is aggravated by the limited scope and coverage of free public health services. Despite tight national budget margins, fiscal space could be created to refinance some national priorities. These include the social protection system. However, this system should also be redesigned to become more progressive and poverty-oriented.

Factors Influencing Primary School Dropout in Punjab, Pakistan: Results from MICS 2017-18

The study focused on the determinants of primary school dropout in the province of Punjab in Pakistan. The study used the MICS (2017-18) dataset. Out of the MICS (2017-2018) data set, a total of 11621 cases were selected. The selected cases were all between the ages of 5 - 17 years, who were enrolled in a primary school in the year prior to data collection. Primary school dropout was the main dependent variable of the study. Out of the 11612 selected children that were enrolled in primary school in the year prior to data collection a total of 274 (2.4%) children had dropped out. Multiple logistic regression were performed to gauge the relationship between primary school dropout and the various demographic, economic, household level and individual level variables included in the study. The study revealed that some demographic, economic and individual level variables significantly increased the odds of primary school dropout. Specifically, children from urban areas (demographic) or poor families (economic) had a significantly higher likelihood of dropping out. There is a need for a comprehensive policy that provides a holistic strategy for eliminating the incidence of school dropout at the primary level. This strategy should involve multiple stakeholders including the government, civil society, international organizations and most importantly, the communities.

Active Feeding Behavior Compensates for Low Interest in Food among Young Nicaraguan Children

The association of caregivers' feeding behavior with young children's anthropometric status was examined in 80 poor urban families from Nicaragua. Caregiver and child behaviors observed during eating were recorded for midday meals, snacks and bottle feeds. Two kinds of scales were constructed. The Active Feeding Scale measured the caregiver's attempts to encourage or promote the child's food ingestion through behaviors such as verbal encouragement, threatening, offering more food or demonstrating eating. The Child Demand Scale measured the child's interest and enthusiasm for food. Results suggested the following: 1) there were significant differences in caregiver encouragement of feeding by meal type (midday meal, snack or bottle-feed); 2) mothers were significantly more likely to encourage eating than were other caregivers; and 3) active feeding was not associated with child anthropometric status but often appeared to be associated with child disinterest in the meal. It is suggested that active feeding may be used to compensate for child disinterest in food rather than to enhance the child's growth and developmental trajectory. The importance of lack of child interest in food, probably related to poor appetite, needs to be recognized and incorporated into nutrition education programs.

Urban-Rural Distinction or Economic Segmentation: A Study on Fear and Inferiority in Poor Children's Peer Relationships.

Peer relationships play an important role in the growth of children. This study offers insights about feelings of fear and inferiority in children’s peer relationships. Based on a national survey, the 2018 Construction for Social Policy Support System for Urban and Rural Poor Families in China, initiated by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and using multiple regression models and a structural equation model, this study discusses whether and how having a rural household registration or being from a poor (dibao) family has an isolation effect on fear and inferiority in children’s peer relationships. The research findings indicate that children with a rural household registration or those from a dibao family are at a disadvantage in peer interactions. Moreover, rural resident identity has an indirect effect on children’s fear of peers and inferiority, mainly through psychological resilience, anxiety and depression, and mobile phone dependence. Being from a dibao family directly influences children’s fear and inferiority in their peer relationships; it also indirectly influences fear of peers and inferiority through psychological resilience. This study suggests that more attention should be paid to fear of peers and inferiority in rural children or children from a dibao family.

Prevalence and associated factors of home delivery in Eastern Africa: Further analysis of data from the recent Demographic and Health Survey data.

Objectives:The current study aimed to determine the magnitude of home delivery and its associated factors in East Africa using data from the Demographic and Health Survey.Methods:We pooled data from the Demographic and Health Survey of the 11 East African countries and included a total weighted sample of 126,107 women in the study. The generalized linear mixed model was fitted to identify factors associated with home delivery. Variables with adjusted odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval, and p value < 0.05 in the final generalized linear mixed model were reported to declare significantly associated factors with home delivery.Result:The weighted prevalence of home delivery was 23.68% (95% confidence interval: [23.45, 23.92]) among women in East African countries. Home delivery was highest in Ethiopia (72.5%) whereas, it was lowest in Mozambique (2.8%). In generalized linear mixed model, respondent’s age group, marital status, educational status, place of residence, living country, wealth index, media exposure, and number of children ever born were shown significant association with the home delivery in the East African countries,Conclusion:Home delivery varied between countries in the East African zone. Home delivery was significantly increased among women aged 20–34 years, higher number of ever born children, rural residence, never married, or formerly married participants. On the contrary, home delivery decreased with higher educational level, media exposure, and higher wealth index. Wide-range interventions to reduce home delivery should focus on addressing inequities associated with maternal education, family wealth, increased access to the media, and narrowing the gap between rural and urban areas, poor and rich families, and married and unmarried mothers.

Multilevel Pathways of Rural and Urban Poverty as Determinants of Childhood Undernutrition in the Philippines

ABSTRACT This paper identified and compared pathways of childhood undernutrition among 308 rural and 310 urban children from low-income households in the Philippines. Multidisciplinary analyses based on quantitative and qualitative data revealed unique urban and rural constraints accounting for differing nutritional outcomes. Urban poor families were more food secure, though vegetable avoidance and poor micronutrient adequacy were observed. Rather than mitigate threats to undernutrition, rural households’ reliance on home food agriculture heightened risk to food insecurity, as the Philippines is vulnerable to crop-destroying tropical storms. Our findings suggest the need to strengthen local governance institutions to implement context-specific multisectoral interventions.

‘It was peers and playgrounds that were missing, not play’: young children in Northern Indian homes during the pandemic

ABSTRACT Play during early years gives rhythm to children’s lives, and although we make many investments in children’s play in our modern world, it is also true that children play under all conditions, even the most difficult ones. In recent times, social encounters and physical mobility have become impacted, and fear and uncertainty have become constant companions. In this article, we explore children’s play during the pandemic through a series of interviews with adults and children in Northern Indian families, to understand the ways in which their activities had changed. We found that socio-economic context played a key role in defining how and how much children’s play had been impacted and reported. Whereas the vocal middle-class, educated parent recounted many adjustments and anxieties, semi-urban, rural, and urban poor families mostly believed that their children played as usual, slipping out onto the street to play with other children by avoiding scrutiny.

Changes in Food Expenditures in Urban and Rural Egypt

The aim of this research is to trace recent changes in family expenditures on food commodities between 2015 and 2017/18. The data is drawn from CAPMAS publications on family income, expenditure, and consumption for both years. Three food groups are explored in this paper: 1- The aggregate group of food and beverages; 2-The grains and bread group; and 3- The meat group. Two statistical models are utilized for the purposes of data analysis. The first model is known as Working's model and the second model is the well-Known double logarithmic model. The analysis shows that the expenditure elasticity of the aggregate group of food and beverages ranges between 0.423 for high-income urban families in 2017/18 to 0.763 for urban poor families in 2015. For rural families the same elasticity is about 0.313 for high-income families in 2017/18 and about 0.751 for poor families in 2015. These estimates are derived from the OLS estimates of Working's model. The double logarithmic model gives one single estimate for expenditure elasticity for the entire set of data. For example, the expenditure elasticity for all families in 2017/18 is 0.63 in urban areas and 0.59 in rural areas according to the double logarithmic model. The same estimates are 0.64 for urban areas and 0.56 for rural areas according to Working's model. The Working's model fits the family survey data quite well and gives multiple estimates of expenditure elasticity according to the level of family income. In contrast, the double logarithmic model gives one estimate of expenditure elasticity that does not change with the level of family income. That is Working's model would be more suitable for policy analysis purposes.

Public works programs and crime: Evidence for El Salvador

AbstractMost evaluations of public works programs in developing countries study their effects on poverty reduction and other labor market outcomes (job creation, earnings, and participation). However, very few look at other collateral effects, such as the incidence of violence. Between 2009 and 2014, El Salvador implemented the Temporary Income Support Program (PATI), which aimed at guaranteeing a temporary minimum level of income to extremely poor urban families for 6 months, as well as providing beneficiaries with experience in social and productive activities at the municipal level. Making use of a panel data set at the municipal level for 2007–2014, with monthly data on different types of crime rates and social program benefits by municipalities, this paper assesses the effects of the program on crime rates in municipalities in El Salvador. There are several possible channels through which the PATI can affect crime. Since the program is associated with cash transfers to beneficiaries, a decrease in economically motivated crimes is expected (income effect). But since the program enforces work requirements and community participation, this could generate a negative impact on crime, because the beneficiaries will have less time to commit crime and because of community deterrence effects. Overall, the paper finds a robust and significant negative impact of the PATI on most types of crimes in the municipalities with the intervention. Moreover, the negative effects of the program on some types of crime rates hold several years after participation. The positive spillover effects for municipalities hold within a radius of 50 km.

A home visit-based early childhood stimulation programme in Brazil-a randomized controlled trial.

Home visiting programmes are increasingly recognized as one of the most effective interventions to improve child health and development in low-income settings. However, the best platforms to deliver such programmes remain unclear. We conducted a randomized controlled trial to test the relative effectiveness of child development agents (CDAs) and community health workers (CHWs) as two possible delivery platforms for early childhood development (ECD) focused home visiting intervention in São Paulo, Brazil. A total of 900 children aged 9-15 months were screened for potential study inclusion between January and March 2015. Children who did not attend crèches at enrolment were included in the trial. Children were randomly assigned to control or to receive biweekly home visits either through a CHW in the areas covered by the Brazilian Family Health Strategy (FHS) or by a newly hired cadre of CDAs in the areas not covered by the FHS. The primary study outcome was children's development (cognition, motor, language and social emotional skills) assessed after 12 months of intervention with the PRIDI and Caregiver-Reported Early Development Instruments tools. A total of 826 mother-child dyads were enrolled in the trial. In intention-to-treat analysis, neither intervention arm improved study outcomes. In per-protocol (PP) analysis, the CDA programme resulted in a 0.22 standard deviation increase in children's development (95% confidence interval [0.01-0.43]). The results presented in this study suggest that home visiting programmes have the potential to improve child development among poor urban families in Brazil. However, delivering home visiting interventions through already active CHWs may not be feasible in the Brazilian context and coordination across sectors is essential to effective ECD policies.

Suffer the Children, Don’t Let Them Suffer: 1920s Child Welfare Services and Reforms in the Queen City

Suffer the Children, Don’t Let Them Suffer1920s Child Welfare Services and Reforms in the Queen City Brandon Borgemenke (bio) early movements in child welfare Throughout American history, some children have always been cared for by individuals other than their biological parents, but the ways in which they have been cared for have changed. Stemming from the basic issue of “unworthy vs. worthy poor,” the philosophy of the Elizabethan Poor Laws was the foundation of the American welfare system in the years leading up to and following the American Revolution.1 Children were categorized, under this set of laws, to be “worthy” of public welfare support, which was primarily offered through group housing and apprenticeships. The Elizabethan Poor Laws fed into a conception of child welfare that persisted in America for roughly another 150 years after they were first established.2 Under the British system, politicians and community leaders in colonial America hoped that dependent and neglected children who required out-of-home care would be reformed by their apprenticeships and acquire skills to be molded into contributing members of society. This sentiment carried over into the early years of the American nation. In the early days of the American Republic, for example, it was common for children to be indentured to families outside of their biological parents so that they might work and learn a trade. This was an accepted way of caring for all [End Page 42] types of children, ranging from orphans and other dependent children to children from other classes as well.3 Until the middle of the nineteenth century, orphan asylums provided communities with the means to deal with runaway children from impoverished families. Simultaneously, changing conceptions of childhood effectively narrowed the use of indenture to children from very poor families.4 In the 1850s, “placing-out” emerged as an alternative to indenture and began moving children from poor urban families to rural homes. Unlike indenture, placing-out was partially inspired by anti-urban, anti-immigrant ideologies.5 In the 1880s and 1890s, some agencies began to pay foster parents for boarding young children, so that the children would not be forced to work. Additionally, foster parents cared for children who were difficult to live with or who had special needs.6 the push for orphanages Orphanages began to spring up in the early 1800s as part of a concerted effort in America to build up its institutions. The United States was a very young country—socially unsettled and all but devoid of institutions.7 Many Americans could not escape the feeling that they had lost the established social order imbued by the British colonial system, but there had been nothing with which to replace it.8 In Republican society, the traditional British dichotomy of rank and privilege no longer existed. Historian Matthew A. Crenson writes about Republican society in his research on the prehistory of the American welfare state. Crenson claims, “The population was literally in motion, with workers moving into cities and mill towns to take jobs in the newly industrializing northern economy; other people migrating westward to settle new land in the territories; and immigrants arriving by the boatload in eastern seaboard cities.”9 Things we take for granted in our modern society did not yet exist. In [End Page 43] the early 1800s, there were few social services, public health institutions were almost nonexistent, and a system of public education was rudimentary.10 To many, society had become dangerously unstable and unhealthy. Social critics cited runaway ambition and the frantic pace and flexible principles of the marketplace for increases in crime and insanity.11 In response, many communities in the United States began to embrace the idea of asylums.12 The asylum was designed to take people who were at risk or who were causing harm to society and isolate them. The idea was that if one were to remove a problematic individual from bad influences and unhealthful conditions and put them in a regimented, regulated environment, you might restore them to health or turn them into a responsible citizen. If it was a child who was problematic, many individuals believed that if you removed them from the corrupting influence...

Happiness Among Urban Poor Filipino Families

Filipinos are generally observed to display happiness despite the experience of poverty. However, limited researches have been done to support or explain such observation. The purpose of the study was to examine the level of happiness among selected Filipino families who were living below the poverty line. The study also identified the families’ sources of happiness and the actions they take to experience happiness. A qualitative research design was used. Twenty urban poor two-parent families were the subjects of the study. The Family Subjective Happiness Scale was administered to the families to determine their level of happiness. In depth-interviews were used to examine the families' sources of happiness and the actions they take to be happy. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. The results showed that most of the poor families were either happy or very happy. The primary sources of happiness of the families include good family relationship, family togetherness, having children, faith in God, and good health. On the other hand, learning to be content, finding ways to solve their problems, engaging in leisure activities, and developing optimism were the things that the families do to achieve or experience happiness. Despite being poor, the families were happy mainly because they have close family relationships and are contented with their lives. The study provided valuable contribution to understanding why Filipino families show happiness despite poverty.

Neoliberalism, welfare, and mass male circumcisions in Turkey

ABSTRACT This article explores the neoliberalization of mass male circumcisions, a type of social assistance in Turkey. Male circumcision is a religious and medical practice widely performed in Muslim-majority Turkey, and when this procedure is organised for the poor in large numbers, it is referred to as mass male circumcisions. The article argues that since the 2000s, the AKP (Justice and Development Party) has neoliberalized mass male circumcision by transforming it into an economic and symbolic resource for competing hospitals as well as shaping the ‘deserving’ urban poor families into consumer-like actors. The article further shows the limits and contradictions of this process. In doing so, it challenges the binary between neoliberalism and welfare, and views social assistance as another potential site of neoliberalization that recrafts the society and the state in the image of the market, cutting across economic and non-economic spheres.

Verbal Abuse of Parents in Urban Poor Families

Terminologically, verbal abuse is a rude utterance that is said by a person without touching physically, but it makes an impact psychically to suicide risk. In this study, verbal abuse was done by the parents to male and female children. This study aims to determine the factors that cause verbal abuse in a poor family. Methodologically, this study used a qualitative approach by conducting interviews with several verbal abuse actors and victims of verbal abuse. The result showed that the factors of verbal abuse in a poor family are caused by a lack of education, low income, habits, or environment.

Research on Education Issues of Children of Urban Poor Families Based on the Survey of Jinan City

Due to the transformation of China's social structure and the transformation of the economic system, China's unit-based welfare system disintegrated, and the corresponding social insurance mechanism was blank. A large number of laid-off workers and unemployed people appeared, resulting in a large number of urban poor. The living problem of the urban poverty is a worldwide problem. Under the concept of education changing destiny, children's access to good education is an opportunity for families to move upward and get rid of poverty. Therefore, the education of children from poor families is the top priority. The economic level of the family will affect the educational opportunities and education levels of their children, thereby restricting individuals' opportunities for better development, and the intergenerational transmission of poverty will therefore occur. Paying attention to the education of children in urban poor families is not only conducive to the improvement and resolution of their education, but also conducive to alleviating the widening gap between the rich and the poor in China's society and the aggravation of class divisions, maintaining social stability and promoting social equity.

Urban poor families access to assets and implication on household’s food security, the situation of low-income households in City of Kigali, Rwanda

Urban poor families access to assets and implication on household’s food security, the situation of low-income households in City of Kigali, Rwanda

English

This qualitative study was aimed at looking into the lived experiences of child domestic workers in the selected towns of Gedeo Zone. A triangulation of key informant interviews, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, informal conversations, non-participant observations, and life histories were employed to collect the required data from child domestic workers, brokers, urban residents, police officers, and officials and experts in concerned government offices. The finding reveals that poverty and parental death are among the principal factors that coerce children to join the sector. Being a solitary decision for a few, engaging in this sector is not a personal decision for many child domestic workers. Letting one or more child (ren) engage in domestic work in urban areas is often adopted by poor rural and urban families as a survival strategy. The decision of the families to send their children for domestic work is often mediated by brokers. With regard to the terms of employment of the child domestic workers, all interviewed child domestic workers were working without any written contract with their employers. Though the lived experiences of the interviewed child domestic workers were heterogeneous, most reported long working hours, poor remuneration, deduction, delay and denial of salary, denial of contact with family and friends, uncomfortable living arrangements, denial of access to education, and physical, verbal, psychological and sexual abuses to characterize their daily lives. As poverty was found to be the prominent reason for most child domestic workers to join the sector, the researchers suggest the integrated interventions of stakeholders to scale up the capabilities of rural and urban poor households thereby preventing children from entering into the sector. Furthermore, enforcing the existing legal frameworks related to child labor and enacting additional responsive regulations on child domestic work is imperative to protect those who are already in the sector. Key words: Abuse, child domestic workers, families, Gedeo, lived experiences, poverty.

Post-Disaster Relocation of Urban Coastal Communities in the Philippines

This paper examines the super typhoon Haiyan disaster as a case study that demonstrates the full complexity of multidimensional challenges, vulnerabilities, and adaptation needs of urban coastal communities at high risk of future impacts. Anchored on the Coastal Relocation Potential framework developed by Bukvic, Smith, and Zhang (2015), this qualitative research gathered data using a combination of desk research and field works in three urban coastal villages of Tacloban City highly devastated by Haiyan. Results showed that residents in urban coastal communities consider the following factors in deciding to relocate or not: a) household level socio-economic factors, b) psychosocial and physical impacts, c) post-disaster recovery concerns, and d) relocation assistance support needs. The study argues that policy-makers need proper planning, participatory consultation and great consideration to the socio-economic impacts it will cause to coastal dwellers, majority of which is urban-poor families.

Racism and Gender Intersections Among Poor Urban Families The Role Of Inclusive Policies

This article analyses how social policies affect the relationships of female beneficiaries with their partners, relatives, friends and neighbours in the Metropolitan Region of Salvador, Brazil. Relations between groups can involve gender discrimination, racism and social prejudices, which is understandable within the concept of intersectionality, in comparison to the framework of intergroup competition for scarce resources or according to the perspective of realistic intergroup conflicts. Methods: A qualitative methodology combined interviews with beneficiaries of Conditioned Cash Transfers programs (CCT) and other social programs, as well as with focus groups comprising of these beneficiaries, their relatives, friends and neighbours. Results: social programs have been able to reduce the impact of poverty and have improved gender empowerment and partners’ relationships within the families. However, prejudices and intergroup conflicts emerge between beneficiaries with small children and their friends or neighbours, (mainly childless women who applied but were not considered poor and do not receive social benefits). Discussion: Results confirm the hypothesis of realistic intergroup competition. Moreover, racism persists in poor communities, indicating that intersectionality should be included in the framework of affirmative policies and education to promote equality values should be reinforced in order to mitigate race discrimination and intergroup conflicts.