Title: Experiences of Children Heading Households in Hammarsdale, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Author: Nomlindo Dlungwana, Reshmna Sathiparsad
Date: 2008
Abstract: This study explored the experiences of children who are heads of households, particularly with regard to the psychological, emotional and social effects of heading a household, and access to schooling and support services. Fifteen children (females, n=9; males, n=6; age range 3 to 18) participated. Data were collected using in-depth interviews. Content analysis was employed in the qualitative analysis of the data. The findings revealed that many children from child-headed households lived in poverty, experienced psychological and emotional problems, received limited or no support from relatives and had irregular school attendance. Children heading households face ongoing challenges in relation to fulfilling their basic needs for food, clothing, shelter and security.
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Title: The impact of parental death on school outcomes: longitudinal evidence from South Africa
Author: Anne Case and Cally Ardington
Date: 2006
Abstract: We analyze longitudinal data from a demographic surveillance area (DSA) in KwaZulu-Natal to examine the impact of parental death on children’s outcomes. The results show significant differences in the impact of mothers’ and fathers’ deaths. The loss of a child’s mother is a strong predictor of poor schooling outcomes. Maternal orphans are significantly less likely to be enrolled in school and have completed significantly fewer years of schooling, conditional on age, than children whose mothers are alive. Less money is spent on maternal orphans’ educations, on average, conditional on enrollment. Moreover, children whose mothers have died appear to be at an educational disadvantage when compared with non-orphaned children with whom they live. We use the timing of mothers’ deaths relative to children’s educational shortfalls to argue that mothers’ deaths have a causal effect on children’s educations. The loss of a child’s father is a significant correlate of poor household socioeconomic status. However, the death of a father between waves of the survey has no significant effect on subsequent asset ownership. Evidence from the South African 2001 Census suggests that the estimated effects of maternal deaths on children’s outcomes in the Africa Centre DSA reflect the reality for orphans throughout South Africa.
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Title: Academic Achievement of Students in Foster Care: Impeded or Improved?
Author(s): Larry Evans
Date: 2004
Abstract: Foster care’s impact on academic development was investigated for 392 students reentering foster care. Psychoeducational evaluation was performed at initial and return placements. Average achievement increased .22 points between placements. Students reentering care did not show differences in achievement or IQ compared to control students with a single placement. Although average achievement showed a small increase between placements, some students showed large changes. Declining achievement was directly related to above-average initial achievement ( p < .001), and indirectly related to not being in special education ( p < .001) and nonminority race ( p < .02). Results provide evidence that overall academic development appears neither enhanced nor hindered by foster care placement, but specific groups may be at risk for poor gains.
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Title: Orphans and schooling in Africa: A longitudinal analysis
Author: David Evans and Edward Miguel
Date: 2007
Abstract: AIDS deaths could have a major impact on economic development by affecting the human capital accumulation of the next generation. We estimate the impact of parent death on primary school participation using an unusual five-year panel data set of over 20,000 Kenyan children. There is a substantial decrease in school participation following a parent death and a smaller drop before the death (presumably due to pre-death morbidity). Estimated impacts are smaller in specifications without individual fixed effects, suggesting that estimates based on cross-sectional data are biased toward zero. Effects are largest for children whose mothers died and, in a novel finding, for those with low baseline academic performance.
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Title: AIDS epidemic and the psychological well-being and school participation of Ethiopian orphans
Author: Bhargava, A.
Date: 2005
Abstract: This paper modeled the proximate determinants of the scores on 60 items from Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI) and of school participation of approximately 1,000 children who had lost their mothers due to AIDS and from other causes using the data from a survey in Ethiopia. The scores on MMPI items reflecting emotional and social adjustment, and school participation before and after maternal deaths were modeled in a multi-disciplinary framework incorporating the time sequence of events. The main findings were that while AIDS orphans scored lower on MMPI items, variables such as presence of the father, household income, feeding and clothing conditions, and attitude of the fostering family were significant predictors of children’s scores. Secondly, girls were at a disadvantage in terms of the scores on MMPI items. Third, variables such as income and good feeding and clothing conditions were significant predictors of school participation. Fourth, school participation before maternal death was an important predictor of subsequent school participation probabilities. An ordinal regression model was estimated to address certain methodological problems. Overall, the results indicated that economic subsidies to fostering households would enhance child welfare in Ethiopia.
Citation: Bhargava, A. (2005). “AIDS epidemic and the psychological well-being and school participation of Ethiopian orphans.” Psychology, Health & Medicine 10(3): 263-275.
Title: The impact of the AIDS epidemic on the schooling of orphans and other directly affected children in sub-Saharan Africa
Author: Bennell, P.
Date: 2005
Abstract: This report examines the three groups of schoolchildren that are directly affected by the AIDS epidemic, namely children who are HIV positive or have AIDS, children who are orphaned by parents or guardians suffering from the disease, and children taking care of sick family members. The impact so far, of the epidemic on the schooling of these children, likely effects on them over the next 10-15 years, and the school-based support and national policies and strategies needed to reduce their education-loss, are discussed.
Citation: Bennell, P. (2005). “The impact of the AIDS epidemic on the schooling of orphans and other directly affected children in sub-Saharan Africa.” Journal of Development Studies 41(3): 467(422).
Study Title: The Impact of Adult Mortality and Parental Deaths on Primary Schooling in North-Western Tanzania
Author(s): Ainsworth, M., K. Beegle, et al.
Date: 2005
Abstract: Mortality of parents and other adults due to the African AIDS epidemic could reduce children’s primary schooling by reducing households’ ability to pay fees, raising the opportunity cost of children’s time, and leaving orphaned children with guardians who care less about their education than would their parents. This study measures the impact of adult deaths and orphan status on primary school attendance and hours spent at school using a panel household survey from north-western Tanzania, an area hard-hit by the AIDS epidemic. Attendance was delayed for maternal orphans and children in poor households with a recent adult death; there was no evidence that children 7-14 dropped out of primary school due to orphan status or adult deaths. However, among children already attending, school hours were significantly lower in the months prior to an adult death in the household and seemed to recover following the death. In addition, girls sharply reduced their hours in school immediately after losing a parent. Improvements in school quality and better access to secondary education would improve outcomes for all children, including those affected by adult AIDS mortality. Beyond that, public policy needs to focus on the special schooling constraints faced by children affected by adult deaths, both in terms of increased opportunity costs of their time and the psychological impacts, with an eye to how they might be mitigated and at what cost.
Ainsworth, M., K. Beegle, et al. (2005). “The Impact of Adult Mortality and Parental Deaths on Primary Schooling in North-Western Tanzania.” Journal of Development Studies 41(3): 412-439.
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