Peer-reviewed article
The Relationship Between Child Labour and Hyperactivity
Daman Ahuja, B. Kalpana ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined whether children engaged in labour show higher rates of hyperactivity compared to school-going peers in Delhi. Researchers used a standardized psychological assessment tool with 1,000 children aged 7-14 from slum communities, comparing those in child labour with school-going children from similar socioeconomic backgrounds. The study found a strong statistical association between child labour status and behavioural difficulties, though the actual scores were very similar between the two groups.
Key points
- Hyperactivity and psychological health in child labour has been under-researched compared to physical and educational impacts
- Mean difficulty score for child labourers was 4.77 compared to 4.60 for school children
- Strong positive association between working children status and difficulty scores (p<.001)
- Similar social problems may exist for both child labour and school children in slum settings, limiting differences in measured outcomes
- Study used the Strength and Difficulty Questionnaire, a validated assessment tool
Limitations
The study does not explain why measured scores were nearly identical despite the statistical significance, making it unclear whether child labour actually causes hyperactivity or whether both groups face similar environmental stressors. The cross-sectional design cannot establish causation, and the comparison between working and school children from the same slums may not isolate the specific effect of labour.
Abstract
The physical aspects of child labour across the world have been explored to a vast context. Child labour's impact on health, education, economy, family were widely discussed, but the relationship between child labour and psychological health still remains an unexplored area. The present study explores the hyperactive aspect of child labour. Strength and difficulty questionnaire of Robert Goodman was used. The tool was applied to children in Delhi (n=1000) in the slums over a group of school going and child labour children between the ages of 7-14 years. The mean t-test value for child labour was 4.77 and that of school children of the same socioeconomic condition was 4.60. The results were almost the same probably because the same types of social problems exists for both the groups. Strong positive association between working children status and difficulty score was established (p<.001).
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
Problem
Children in labour may experience elevated rates of hyperactivity and psychological difficulties
- Intervention
- None - this is an observational comparison study
- Population
- 1,000 children aged 7-14 years in Delhi slums, divided into child labour and school-going groups from similar socioeconomic backgrounds
Key finding
Mean difficulty score for child labourers: 4.77