Boris Neil W, Thurman Tonya R, Snider Leslie, Spencer Erin, Brown Lisanne
Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and Tulane University Institute for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health.
Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.
Infant Ment Health J. 2006 Nov;27(6):584-602. doi: 10.1002/imhj.20116.
The HIV/AIDS epidemic has already produced millions of orphans in Africa and the peak of the orphan epidemic has not yet been reached. One emerging social trend associated with premature parental death is the formation of households headed by youth aged 13-24. In Rwanda, specific sociocultural factors have supported the formation of youth-headed households (YHH) in the wake of both the 1994 genocide and the ongoing HIV/AIDS epidemic. There is no published data on the health and socioemotional functioning of children under 5 living in YHH. Survey data from 692 YHH in one region of Rwanda yielded a subsample of 89 homes which contained one or more children under 5 (n=104). These data reveal that a majority of young children living in YHH's is in fair or poor health. Heads of household themselves report high levels of depressive symptoms and social isolation; reports of emotional distress among the youngest children in the homes are associated with reports of higher symptomatology among heads of household. Findings are interpreted in light of the sociocultural context of Rwanda and the implications of the data for intervention are considered.
艾滋病毒/艾滋病疫情已在非洲造成数百万孤儿，而孤儿数量的峰值尚未到来。与父母过早离世相关的一个新出现的社会趋势是出现了由13至24岁的年轻人当家的家庭。在卢旺达，1994年种族灭绝事件以及持续的艾滋病毒/艾滋病疫情引发了特定的社会文化因素，促使了年轻人当家的家庭（YHH）的形成。目前尚无关于生活在年轻人当家的家庭中的5岁以下儿童的健康状况和社会情感功能的公开数据。来自卢旺达一个地区692个年轻人当家的家庭的调查数据产生了一个包含89个家庭的子样本，这些家庭中有一个或多个5岁以下儿童（n = 104）。这些数据显示，生活在年轻人当家的家庭中的大多数幼儿健康状况一般或较差。户主自身报告有高水平的抑郁症状和社会隔离；家中最小的孩子出现情绪困扰的报告与户主中较高症状发生率的报告相关。研究结果根据卢旺达的社会文化背景进行了解释，并考虑了这些数据对干预措施的影响。
