Peer-reviewed article
The Socio-cultural Determinants of Child Labour in Tanzania
George M. Joseph ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined why children work in small-scale gold mining in Tanzania's Geita region. Researchers surveyed 209 people in Nyang'hwale district and found that three socio-cultural factors drive child labour: polygamy, early marriage, and family conflict. The study used a statistical method called Structural Equation Modeling to analyse the data and a new measure called Eta Value to assess child labour risk. The findings suggest interventions should address these family and cultural factors to reduce child labour in mining communities.
Key points
- Polygamy, early marriage, and family conflict are the main socio-cultural determinants of child labour in small-scale gold mining
- The study surveyed 209 randomly sampled individuals from Nyang'hwale district in Geita region
- A newly developed measure called Eta Value was used to measure age risk of children working under 18 years
- Structural Equation Modeling Partial Least Square (SEM PLS) was used to analyse relationships between socio-cultural factors and child labour
- The study recommends addressing polygamy, early marriage and family conflict to reduce child labour practices
Limitations
The study is limited to one district in Geita region and does not provide information about the effectiveness of interventions to address these factors. The document does not report quantitative effect sizes or prevalence rates of child labour itself.
Abstract
The purpose of the study was to examine the socio-cultural determinants of child labour in small scale gold mining in Tanzania. Specifically, the study examined polygamy, early marriage and family conflict among the respondents which influence child labour practices in small scale gold mining (SSGM) in Geita region. Furthermore, the study used the case of Nyang’hwale district which is one of the districts in Geita region where SSGM activities are rampant compared to the rest of the districts. The study used a cross-sectional survey researches design. The primary data were collected by using questionnaires from 209 individuals who were randomly sampled from Nyang’hwale district in Geita region. Moreover, the study applied a newly developed method of measuring the age risk of children working under 18 years known as Eta Value. The researcher analyzed the data using the Structural Equation Modeling Partial Least Square (SEM PLS) with a combination of analytic techniques - statistics and artificial intelligence software. The study found that the child labour determinants under socio-cultural factors were polygamy, early marriage and family conflict. Moreover, the researcher found that micro-sociology focuses on the individual's micro aspects – polygamy, early marriage and family conflicts which are socio-cultural oriented. The study concludes that the fundamental sociocultural determinants are polygamy, early marriage and family conflict. Therefore the study recommends that the polygamy, early marriage and family conflict are significant sociocultural factors that contribute to the child labour practices in Geita.