Peer-reviewed article
Mental Health Impacts of Child Labour: Evidence from Vietnam and India
Trong‐Anh Trinh ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examines how child labour affects children's mental health in Vietnam and India using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. The research finds that children who work suffer from peer problems and reduced prosocial behaviour in both countries. Gender differences appear in India's results. Interestingly, household chores in Vietnam are associated with better mental health outcomes.
Key points
- Child labour is associated with peer problems and reduced prosocial behaviour in both Vietnam and India
- Mental health impacts of child labour differ by gender in India
- Household chores, a culturally accepted form of work in developing countries, are associated with better mental health in Vietnam
- The study uses rainfall as an instrumental variable to address endogeneity of child labour
- Previous research has focused on physical health impacts; this study provides empirical evidence on emotional and behavioural development
Limitations
The document does not specify the sample sizes, ages of children studied, or the magnitude of the mental health effects observed. It is unclear whether the findings generalise beyond Vietnam and India or how household chores differ from other forms of child labour in terms of intensity and working conditions.
Abstract
A number of recent studies have investigated the relationship between child labour and physical health. However, there has been little empirical evidence that child labour affects children’s emotional and behavioural development. This study departs from existing literature by examining the mental health impacts of child labour in Vietnam and India, as measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. The potential endogeneity of child labour is addressed by using rainfall as the instrument. The findings show that children engaged in child labour suffer from mental health issues as measured by peer problems and reduced prosocial behaviour in both countries. There is a significant gender difference in the impact of child labour in India. Finally, doing household chores, an accepted social and cultural work in developing countries is found to be associated with the better mental health of children in Vietnam.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Examining mental health outcomes (peer problems, prosocial behaviour) in children engaged in child labour versus not engaged
- Population
- Children in Vietnam and India
Key finding
Children engaged in child labour suffer from peer problems in both Vietnam and India