• F O Omokhodion and S I Omokhodion.
• Department of Community Medicine, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria.
• Afr J Med Med Sci. 2004 Dec 1; 33 (4): 305-9.

AbstractThis cross sectional study was designed to compare the characteristics of working and non-working school children. Two hundred and thirty one working and 236 non-working children were interviewed. The socio economic factors associated with child labour were trading as mother's occupation, father's educational status, religion, family type (monogamous vs polygamous) and type of residence. Family type (OR = 0.562, 95% C.I. 0.353-0.897, p = 0.016), religion (OR = 0.559, 95% C.I. 0.361-0.867, p = 0.009) and trading as mother's occupation (O.R = 2.49, 95% CI 1.68-3.68, p = 0.000) were sustained on logistic regression analysis. With regard to attitude to child work, 186 (40%) of all respondents thought that children should be allowed to work. The majority of those who held this opinion 150, were child workers. Ten percent of working children had themselves chosen to work without any parental influence to do so. Seventy five respondents had ever repeated a class. Forty nine of these were working children a prevalence of 21% of repeaters compared to 26 non working children, (11%.) p = 0.004. Sixty eight percent of children aspiring to careers in artisan trades were child workers. Road traffic accidents and poor school performance were the commonest adverse effects of child labour indicated by school children. Parents should be educated about the adverse effects of child labour on child development. As poverty is one of the major root causes of child labour, free and compulsory primary education may help to reduce the notion of child work as an option for survival in poor families.

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