Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo, PROVE/UNIFESP Rua Botucatu #431, São Paulo, SP, 04023-061, Brazil.
Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2013 Mar;22(3):165-75. doi: 10.1007/s00787-012-0335-0. Epub 2012 Oct 17.
The objective of this study was to determine which factors predict higher risk for mental health problems in children working on the streets. We studied a sample of families that had at least one child working on the streets, from October 2008 to March 2009. The instruments applied were the parent version strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ), the childhood trauma questionnaire (CTQ) for children and caregivers, the WorldSAFE core questionnaire, the global assessment of relational functioning scale (GARF), the schedule for affective disorders and schizophrenia for school-age children (K-SADS), and a socio-demographic questionnaire. 191 children between 7 and 14 years of age were analyzed; 126 (66%) were working on the streets, and 65 were siblings who did not work on the streets. Multivariate analysis showed that mental health problems in the caregivers, violent behaviors of the caregivers toward the children, absence of a partner living in the house, and lower levels of family functioning increased the risk of mental health problems in the children. Caregivers reported severe forms of physical punishment against their children in 62% of cases. Caregivers who had suffered sexual abuse and emotional negligence in childhood were more violent with their children. Factors that increased risk for mental health symptoms in these children were caregivers' psychopathology, physical punishment at home, single-parent structure, and poor family functioning. Work on the streets did not influence the children's mental health, when multiple risk factors were considered; family characteristics were the most significant in this sample.
本研究旨在确定哪些因素会增加儿童在街头工作时出现心理健康问题的风险。我们研究了一组至少有一名儿童在街头工作的家庭，时间为 2008 年 10 月至 2009 年 3 月。应用的工具包括父母版的长处与困难问卷（SDQ）、儿童和照顾者的童年创伤问卷（CTQ）、WorldSAFE 核心问卷、关系功能全球评估量表（GARF）、儿童情感障碍和精神分裂症诊断定式访谈表（K-SADS）以及一份社会人口学问卷。共分析了 191 名 7 至 14 岁的儿童；其中 126 名（66%）在街头工作，65 名为不在街头工作的兄弟姐妹。多变量分析显示，照顾者的心理健康问题、照顾者对儿童的暴力行为、家中没有伴侣居住以及家庭功能水平较低会增加儿童的心理健康问题风险。照顾者报告称，他们在 62%的情况下对孩子实施了严重形式的体罚。在童年时期遭受过性虐待和情感忽视的照顾者对孩子更加暴力。增加这些儿童心理健康症状风险的因素包括照顾者的精神病理学、家庭中的体罚、单亲家庭结构和较差的家庭功能。当考虑到多种风险因素时，街头工作并不会影响儿童的心理健康，在这个样本中，家庭特征是最重要的。
