Child Labour

SOCIO- DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE, LEVEL OF
ANXIETY, AND RELATIONSHIP WITH THE

FATHER OF WORKING CHILDREN IN THE CITY
OF AMMAN
By
Aisha Hasan Al Omoush
Adviser
Dr. Muntaha Gharaibeh
Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

M.Sc. in Nursing Science
At
The Faculty of Graduate Studies
Jordan University of Science and Technology
SOCIO- DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE, LEVEL OF
ANXIETY, AND RELATIONSHIP WITH THE
FATHER OF WORKING CHILDREN IN THE CITY
OF AMMAN
By
Aisha Omoush
Signature of Researcher
Committee Member Signature and Date

Dr. Muntaha Gharaibeh (Chairman)
Dr. Basel Amarneh (Member)
Dr. Amal G. Bandak
(External Examiner, King Hussain Cancer Center)
DEDICATION
I would like to dedicate this work to my beloved mother, sisters, and brothers for their
support all the way long during my study, and for all family and friends who believed in
me and supported me during hard times.
I would dedicate this work especially for my son EZZALDEEN, having you was the only
motive for me.
i
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work is the result of good mentoring I had by my teachers Dr muntaha Gharaibeh and
Dr Basel Amarneh, I would thank them both for their support for me all the way during my
study. I would like to thank Dr Muntaha for giving me the chance to get my masters
degree, and for believing in me even in the times I wasn't sure about my potentials.
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page
DEDICATION.................................................................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGMENT .................................................................................................... ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS...................................................................................................iii
LIST OF TABLES.............................................................................................................vi
LIST OF APPENDECSES ...............................................................................................ix
ABSTRACR ......................................................................................................................x
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................1
1.1 Background and Significance .....................................................................................1
1.2 Purpose of the Study ...................................................................................................3
1.3 Research Questions .....................................................................................................3
1.4 Operational Definitions of the Variable ......................................................................4
1.5 Study Assumptions .....................................................................................................4
Study limitations ..............................................................................................................4
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................... 6
2.1 Child Labor and Socio- Demographic Profile ............................................................. 6
2.2 Child Labor and Child's Health ................................................................................... 8
2.3 Child Labor and the "Relationship with the Father" .................................................... 12
2.4 Summery ...................................................................................................................... 13
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY .......................................................................... 15
3.1 Design .......................................................................................................................... 15
3.2 Population and Sample ................................................................................................ 15
3.3 Setting .......................................................................................................................... 16
3.4 Data Collection ............................................................................................................ 16
iii
3.5 Ethical Considerations ................................................................................................. 17
3.6 Instruments ................................................................................................................... 17
3.6.1 Socio-Demographic Information Part ....................................................................... 17
3.6.2 Father Presence Questionnaire (FPQ) ....................................................................... 18
3.6.3 State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Scale ......................................................................... 19
3.7 Validity and Reliability ................................................................................................ 20
3.8 Data Analysis ............................................................................................................... 21
3.9 Summary ...................................................................................................................... 21
CHAPTER FOUR: THE FINDINGS OF THE STUDY ................................................... 23
4.1 Socio-Demographic profile of working children ......................................................... 23
4.2 State-Trait Anxiety of Participants .............................................................................. 26
4.2.1 State Anxiety of participants ..................................................................................... 26
4.2.2. Trait Anxiety of participants .................................................................................... 27
4.3 Working Children Relationship with the Father ..................................................... 29
4.3.1 Feelings about the Father .......................................................................................... 30
4.3.2 Mother's Support for Relationship with Father ......................................................... 31
4.3.3 Perception of Father's Involvement .......................................................................... 33
4.3.4 Physical Relationship with Father ............................................................................ 34
4.3.5 Father-Mother Relationship ...................................................................................... 36
4.4 Relationship between state and trait anxiety, relationship with the father, and the
demographic characteristics of participants ....................................................................... 37
4.5 Relationship between State Anxiety scale and "Relationship with the Father" ........... 39
4.6 Relationship between Trait anxiety scale and "Relationship with the father" ............. 40
4.7 Summary ...................................................................................................................... 43
iv
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION...................................................................................... 45
5.1 Socio-demographic profile of working children .......................................................... 45
5.2 Level of Anxiety of Working Children ........................................................................ 46
5.3 Relationship with the Father ........................................................................................ 46
5.4 The Relationship between Anxiety Levels and the "Relationship with the Father" .... 48
5.5 Relationships between Level of Anxiety, Relationship with the Father ,

and Socio-Demographic Variables of Working Children .................................................. 49
5.5.1 Anxiety and Socio-Demographic Variables ............................................................. 49
5.5.2 Relationship with the Father and Socio-Demographic Variables ......................... 51
5.6 conclusions .................................................................................................................. 54
5.7 Implications of the Study ............................................................................................. 54
5.8 Recommendations ....................................................................................................... 55
References:.......................................................................................................................... 57
APPINDECSES ................................................................................................................. 61
ARABIC ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................... 76
v
LIST OF TABLES
Table Description Page
1 Cronbach s Alpha coefficient value in the pilot 21

and the main study
2 Mean, Standard Deviation, Frequency and 24

Percent of Socio-Demographic Characteristics
3 means and standard deviation of the state anxiety scale items 26
4 Distribution of Participants According to Levels of State Anxiety 27
5 Means and Standard Deviations of the Trait Anxiety Scale 28
6 Distribution of Participants According to Levels of Trait Anxiety 29
7 Means and Standard Deviations of children Responses 29

on five subscales of the Relationship with the Father Scale
8 Distribution of Participants According to 30

Relationship with the Father Scale
9 Means and Standard Deviations of children s responses on the 31

"Feelings about the Father" subscale
10 Frequencies and Percentages of the Feeling about 31

the Father Subscale Result
11 Means and Standard Deviations of Participants' 32

Responses on the Second subscale "Mother's support for
relationship with father"
12 distribution of participants according to Mothers Support 33

for the Relationship with Father subscale
13 Means and Standard Deviations of the Participants' 33

Responses on the Third subscale
"Perception of Father's involvement"
vi
Perception of the Father Involvement Subscale

Responses on the Fourth subscale
"Physical relationship with father"

Physical Relationship with Father subscale

Responses on the Fifth subscale
Father- Mother Relationship"

Father- Mother Relationship subscale
19 Pearson s correlation between relationship with the father, 37

state anxiety, and trait anxiety, and
selected socio-demographic variables
20 Chi-Square of the Socio-Demographic Variable 38

and State Anxiety Scale
21 Chi-Square of the Socio-Demographic Variable 38

and Trait Anxiety Scale
22 Chi-Square of the socio-demographic variable 39

and the relationship with the father scale
23 Results of Chi-Square for association between 40

state anxiety and relationship with the father
vii
24 Results of Chi-Square for association between 40
trait anxiety and relationship with the father
25 Result of Regression Analysis for Variables Predicting the 41

Relationship with the Father of Working Children
26 Results of Regression Analysis for Variables Predicting the 42

State Anxiety of Working Children
27 Results of Regression Analysis for Variables Predicting 43

the Trait Anxiety of Working Children
viii
LIST OF APPENDECES
Appendix Description Page
A. Arabic version of questionnaire 61
B. English version of FPQ 69
C. Arabic Abstract 75
ix
ABSTRACT
Socio-Demographic Profile, Level of Anxiety, and Relationship with the

Father of Working Children in the City of Amman
By:
Aisha H.S. Omoush
The aim of the study was to identify socio-demographic profile of working children,
level of anxiety, relationship with the father , and the relationship between level of
anxiety, "relationship with the father", and socio-demographic characteristics of working
children including, family income, parental level of education, child s level of education,
parental social status, type of work, salary, and parental relationship.
Descriptive design was used in the study. The target population of this study was
children between 12-16 years old, who were working at the time of the study. A
convenience sample of 150 working children from three areas in Amman was recruited to
participate namely; Khuraebet Al Souk in South side of Amman, Basman in the east side
of Amman, and Ras Al-Ayn east side of Amman. A structured interview was used for the
data collection, using a three-part-questionnaire, the Socio-Demographic part, the Father
Presence Questionnaire (FPQ), and Spielberger State- Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children
(STAIC).
Children found to have moderate to high levels of anxiety, in both the State and Trait
Anxiety. Results also indicated that children had neutral to negative relationship with their
fathers. The negative scores were reported for the Physical Relation with the Father and the
Father-Mother Relationship, neutral feelings were reported for the Mother s Support to the
Relationship with the Father, and positive feelings were reported for the Feeling about the
Father, and Perception of Father s Involvement.
Results also showed that State Anxiety was significantly associated with the child s
age, father's education, mother's education, type of work, child s days off, child s days off
places, days off spent with. Trait Anxiety was significantly associated with child s age,
number of working members in the family, parent s relationship, father s education,
father s work, mother s education, mother s work, child s days off places, and days off
spent with. The relationship with the father was significantly associated with family
income, parent s relationship, social status of parents, child s type of work, child s work
place, child s days off, and days off spent with.
The study concluded that working children found to be young, belong to poor
socioeconomic status, less educated parents and dropped school to work at young age.
Working children suffered from moderate to high levels of State anxiety and Trait anxiety
(91%), (85.4%) respectively. The relationship with the father found to be neutral to
negative (58%). The socio- demographic variables, levels of anxiety, and the relationship
with the father found to be significantly correlated. In addition anxiety and relationship
with the father were highly explained by the socio-demographic characteristics of working
children.
According to the study results, acknowledging policy makers about the child labor
problems and its consequences on the Child s social, psychological, and physical
problems, is urgently needed to plan and apply educational and rehabilitation programs.
x
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background and Significance
In the last decade, child labor has become a serious problem worldwide. The spread
of this problem in the developing countries, rather than the developed countries, could be
referred to the fact that most of studies and reports correlate child labor, poverty and
socioeconomic status of the family. In Jordan the poverty measurement results showed that
the poverty line in JD is 504 per month, and the 14.8% of the people in urban areas are
under the poverty line and 22.8% of the people are also under the poverty line in rural
areas. Socio-cultural and socioeconomic variables have a strong effect on the prevalence of
the child labor, in which the poor socioeconomic status and the need for survival, forced
families to expose their children to the hazardous working conditions (1).
The effect of child labor on the psychological and mental status of working children
is evident in the results of many studies worldwide, this effect appears in many behavioral
and emotional changes, and some of these behaviors are the reaction of the children toward
others, and the fact that the children are convinced about the superiority of others over
them. The most evident acts that have impact on children s psychological status is abuse,
which children are exposed to in its all types, emotional, physical, verbal and sexual. The
impact of abuse on children is manifested as feeling of inferiority, helplessness, fear of
being approached sexually, poor school achievement and low self-esteem and that lead to
poor stimulation of physical and mental development (2, 3).
Working children are at a stage in their psychosocial development in which crucial
11
aspects of their identity such as self-esteem, self-confidence and future aspiration are
being formed, and negative or positive effect will influence their development at this
critical period and affect them to the rest of their lives.
Anxiety is one of the most commonly seen consequences of child abuse, another
factor contributing to the levels of anxiety on children is the factor arising from the
household of children, and that could be the effect of one of the parents or both of them.
Child labor in Jordan:
In Jordan, 1.8% of the children are working children.(4) The problem started to
appear as a growing problem, 26.4% of the children in the 16 year old group are working
children, 15% of the 15 year old children, 11% of the 14 year old children and 9.5 % less
than 14 years.(5) Around 44.6% of the working children are from Amman, and that maybe
related to the fact that Amman has the highest residential rate in Jordan, and it is the
biggest city in Jordan with high working opportunities.
Mechanical and car maintenance field had the highest percent of the children s
interest, 40% of working children in Jordan are in that field. Child s payments were low,
70% of the working children are paid less than 80 JD/month, which is much lower than the
average payments for the same work adults do. Regardless of the terms and conditions
stated by Ministry of Labor in the Jordan labor law, 54% of the children are working 8
hours or less, the remaining is working more than 9 hours. Child labor was associated with
school dropout, 60% of the working children finished their elementary education, and they
started the work for different reasons. 52.7% wanted to learn skillful job, 52.1% chose to
work to help their families, and 35% had low educational achievements.(5,25) With regard
to their parents' education, 64% of the working children have illiterate fathers, and 80%
had illiterate mothers.(5,25)
12
In Jordan, there is no clear number of child labor problems. All the reports from
Ministry of labor and the ILO, describes child labor problem in a general and vague
manner. Till this time, there is no clear picture about child labor in Jordan. On the other
hand, child labor is underrepresented in research in Jordan, especially working children
psycho-social situations, this study will bring some light on problems associated with the
work of the child.
The results of this study will give policy makers insight about child labor problem,
child labor associated problems, and the characteristics of potential working children. The
study will give social workers, educational institutions, governmental and
nongovernmental organizations a clue of where to begin their educational and
rehabilitation programs. It will give them the base to plan their programs, and most of all
it will bring light for policy-makers about the lack of accurate and in-depth studies in the
area of child labor which impedes implementations and development of social and
economic policies for such vulnerable group.
1.2 Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study was to identify socio-demographic profile of working
children, level of anxiety, relationship with the father, and the relationship between level of
anxiety, "relationship with the father", and socio-demographic characteristics of working
children including, family income, parental level of education, child s level of education,
1.3 Research Questions:
1- What is the socio-demographic profile for working children in the city of
Amman?
2- What is the level of anxiety of working children?
13
3- What is the relationship of the working children and their fathers?
4- What is the relationship between socio-demographic variables, level of anxiety,
and relationship with the father, of working children?
1.4 Operational Definitions of the Variables
Working children: A child between of 12 16 year old, who was involved in any kind of
regular work at the time of the study.
Anxiety: The theoretical definition of anxiety is a physiological state characterized by
cognitive, somatic, emotional, and behavioral components.(44) the operational definition of
anxiety is the anxiety as measured by the state-trait anxiety inventory for children by
Spielberger, (1970).(6)
Relationship with the father: The son's or daughter's feelings about the father, his/her
physical relationship with the father, and the adult child's perception of the father's
involvement with him/her,(7) as measured by the father presence questionnaire, by Krampe,
and Newton (2006).(7)
1.5 Study Assumptions
- Child labor problem is underestimated in Jordan.
- The child s relation with his father affects his mental well-being.
1.6 Study limitations
- The questionnaire was long, and time consuming, which affected the response rate.
- Instruments used in this study were originally developed in the English language and for
children from different cultures.
14
- No inclusion of female children in this study because the percentage of working
females is low, therefore generalizability of results are limited to male children.
15
Chapter 2: Literature review:
In the last decade child labor has become a serious problem worldwide. One of six children
is involved in child labor as stated by the ILO report (2004)(1), child labor is spread in the
developing countries rather than developed countries, the ILO report (2006) on child labor
indicated that child labor decreased 11% in developed countries, and the percent did not
change for some developing countries,( ILO, 2006), (10). The high percentage of child labor
in the developing countries could be referred to the fact that most of researchers, studied
and reported child labor in link with poverty and the cause-effect relation between child
labor and socioeconomic status of the family, therefore the socio-cultural variables have a
strong effect on the prevalence of the child labor. The poor socioeconomic status and the
need for survival forced families to expose their children to the hazardous working
conditions and the need for survival had the priority over the health status and education of
the children.
This chapter provides a synthesis of the available literature related to the child labor, socio-
demographic profile of working children, working children and level of anxiety, and the
relationship between the father and the working children.
2.1 Child Labor and Socio- Demographic Profile
A descriptive study carried out by Ray (2001). (11) showed that early entry into the labor
market is one of the primary indicators of poverty. Working children in Bangladesh are
particularly open to abusive behaviors. However, the critical issue is not childhood, but
16
poverty and the poverty does not disappear when childhood is past .
Another study was conducted in Indonesia in 2005 which supported the study from
Bangladesh. The study finds that there is a strong link between child labor and poverty, the
profile of child labor largely mirrors the profile of poverty, and poverty found to be an
important determinant of working for children. The finding also support the notion that
there is a vicious cycle between poverty and child labor, the supply of child labor mostly
comes from poor households headed by persons with no or very low levels of formal
education. (4).
A comparative study was conducted in Peru and Pakistan in 1999 and revealed that
income and related considerations do not have much of an effect on children s work input,
the study finds that community variables have significant effect on child labor increased
provision of public services leading to improved quality of life discourage a household
from putting its children into outside paid employment, and encourage their school
enrolment, the result of this descriptive study was based on two surveys conducted
separately in Peru and Pakistan in 1994 and 1991 respectively, so the difference in the
ways used in the two surveys and the time of the surveys may affect the result of this
comparative study. (12).
Results of these studies suggest the strong relationship between poverty and child labor,
except for the study by Ray (2000), (12), which stated that poverty have nothing to do with
child labor but community variables have a significant effect on child labor.
Child labor was associated with poverty in most cases. Across sectional study
conducted in Jordan in (2001), the study was conducted in three Jordanian areas Irbid,
Jarash, and north Jordan valley the sample size was 135 working children. (13). Hawamdeh
and Spencer stated in their study that family poverty was common among the sample of
working children in addition to the high percentage of parental illiteracy and poor
17
education. The survey presents strong evidence suggesting that child labor in Jordan is
associated with young age of starting work, long working hours, and low wages. This
study is the first of its kind that focused on the socioeconomic and health status of working
children in Jordan taking in mind that the sample was not representative sample of working
children in Jordan (13).
A qualitative descriptive study was carried out in the industrial city of Irbid in the
north of Jordan with a convenience sample of 41 boys from the industrial city of Irbid
participated in the study, (14). The study findings revealed that children who assumed a
working role dropped out of school and came from poor, large, broken families. Children
worked longer hours, were underpaid, and their working conditions did not provide a
proper physical and mental development, and those children prematurely assumed the role
of the head of the household because they had no alternative choice. The authors also
stated that children worked because of poverty and the induced pressure to escape from
this plight, and children worked to ensure the survival of their families and themselves.
This study finding is shucking, and showing a serious problem that needs to be addressed
thoroughly, but the sample is under representing the child labor population in Jordan (14).
2.2 Child Labor and Child's Health
Child labor has dangerous consequences on the physical, cognitive, emotional and
mental development of working children and it may also expose them to injuries and
accidents. Working children are subject to different kinds of physical health problems from
simple types of injuries like scratches or bruises to serious health problems like substance
abuse, neurotoxicity, anemia, stunting and other kinds of problems, in addition to
consequences of early age of smoking and caffeine consumption, these behaviors add to
the poor health status of the working children. Working children are also easy target for
different kinds of abuse, verbal, physical of worst of all sexual abuse, and how that affect
18
the children s mental and psychological status. (14, 15).
A study conducted in Wisconsin with children between the ages of 10- 14 years,
both males and females, with sample size of 3189 working middle school students. the
authors stated that many youth are working in unsafe conditions and without proper
training or supervision. The results of the study also stated that children are working and
injured in jobs that are not covered by child labor law, and the type and severity of injuries
depend on the type of work assigned for the child, the results also showed that the
incidence of injuries is higher in males than females. (16). Results of the previous studies
indicates that child labor has direct effect on the health status of working children, and that
effect appears in different forms of health problems and behavioral problems as well. (14, 15,
16)
The effect of chemicals and toxicity effect was documented by two studies carried out in
Jordan and Lebanon (14,15). In the study which were carried out in Lebanon in 2002
neurotoxicity evidenced in working children, they found that higher frequency of working
children reported smoking, coffee drinking, and substance sniffing than the non working
children, more over higher proportion of eye irritation in working children and higher
frequency of injuries in working children, the study results strongly suggest that children
who were working in occupations where they were exposed to solvents had significantly
poorer neuro behavioral functions compared to non-working children
The perception of child labor among working children was examined by a study from
Nigeria in (2005), (17), the participants in this study was at the ages of 8- 17 years, the
sample size was 225 child, 132 females and 93 males. The study concluded that many of
working children are at a stage in their psychosocial development in which crucial aspects
of their identity such as self-esteem, self-confidence and future aspiration are being
formed, and negative or positive influences will affect their development at this critical
19
period. (17), The finding of this study suggest that the disruption of educational progress in
working children may lead to low aspirations for educational attainment, and working
children thinks of themselves as deprival and less fortunate.
in contrast to that the result by Admassie (2003), (18), results showed positive impact of
child labor on the child's self-esteem, the author stated that by working alongside adults
under similar work conditions, children were enabled to negotiate a more individualized
conception of themselves as co-workers rather than children, participation in the labor
force encouraged children to challenge the institutionalization of their status as children
within the home, access to paid employment gave them a level of autonomy over spreading
money on their own wants, and children considered how their parents positively viewed
their work as providing them with increased responsibility and self-reliance, Adding to that
the fact that employers deal with them as capable, competent, trustworthy and reliable. (11).
The effect of child labor on the psychological and mental status of working
children is evident in the reaction of the children toward others and the fact that children
are convinced about the superiority of others over them, and the most act that have impact
on children s psychological status is the abuse the working children exposed to in all its
types emotional, physical, verbal and sexual.
Gharaibeh and Hoeman studied the risk for abuse in working children, and results
showed a high proportions of working children experienced different types of abuse such
as physical (60.9%), sexual (26.8%), and verbal abuse which was reported to be
continuous and in association with physical and sexual abuse. The impact of abuse on
children were evident by the child's feeling of inferiority, helplessness, fear of being
approached sexually, poor achievement and low self-esteem which consequently lead to
poor stimulation of physical and mental development. (14).
Nuwayhid et al, (2005), conducted a study in Lebanon, which was a cross sectional
20
survey compared 78 male working children with 60 non working children, the results of
this study showed that working children reported more acute health complaints, such as
musculoskeletal complaints, higher occurrence of injuries among working children, as well
as a higher proportion of working children smoking and consuming caffeine with less
consumption of vegetables, fruits and milk, compared to non-working children. (15), the
study also found that 42% of working children reported frequent physical and verbal abuse,
not belonging to houses and had a wider developmental deficit. The study revealed no
difference between working and non-working children in their feeling, because of the
similarity in socio-cultural and socioeconomic status for both groups. Authors stated that
work provided children with a sense of independence and an opportunity to spend long
hours outside home (15).
Strong evidence presents that stunting and anemia are common among working children,
and prevalence of smoking is high (37.8%), (13). The results of this study are consistent
with the results of the study by Nuwayhid et al, (2005), the authors stated that working
children smoke more than nonworking children of the same age group (15). Gharaibeh and
Hoeman (2003) found that 43.2% of working children were smokers, authors stated that
child labor puts children in unhealthy physical and psychological situations leading to
many problems including breathing chemical fumes and paints, injury from metal parts
falling and cutting them, eye burning, hand injuries (14).
In a study with UK children in (2000), White and O'Donnell stated that working children
of all ages and both sexes experienced a wide range of injuries from their employment,
often quite serious in nature and recurring muscular pain due to bad posture or lifting. The
study by White and O'Donnell focused on one aspect of health hazards or problems
resulted from child labor, this could be attributed to the fact that the study was conducted
in a developed country where control over work environment always insured through
21
strong legislations (19).
Studies reviewed in regard to child labor showed strong evidence that the working
children are abused by their bosses and senior co-workers. And so many other studies
linked the child anxiety to the abuse and the psychological impact of the abuse on the
child. In a study conducted by Kenny (1997), the author stated in the study that
posttraumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and fear are commonly seen in
abused children (20). Another study stated that abused children display an elevated anxiety,
sexualized behaviors, nightmares, social withdrawal, sleep difficulties, anger or acting out,
and physiological symptoms such as headaches, stomachaches, and vulnerability to disease

( 21)
. Childhood abuse often disrupts children development, producing symptomatology by
stimulating the development of primitive coping strategies, and by creating cognitive
distortion of self, others, on future (21).
2.3 Child Labor and the "Relationship with the Father"
The relationship between children and their fathers plays an important role in the
lives of children. Despite inconclusive results in this area, a study conducted by Lest
and Lee (2000), (22) shows no effect of the father presence on their children s academic
achievements. Opposite to that results are the results of a study conducted by Recker,
(2006), (23) which found that more frequent and regular contact with the father is
associated with more intense relationships and fewer adjustment problems in children.
Prior research has indicated father-child relationships have an important influence on
child outcomes and well-being. East, (2007), (24) stated that there was an urgent need to
pay more attention in both theory and research to father role in the socialization of the
children. The authors also stated in their study which was a review of literature for the
research conducted in the area of the effect of father presence on the child s
psychopathology. Results revealed that the father influence on children is more evident
22
than the mother. The Office on Child Abuse and Neglect Rosenberg, Wilcox stated in
their 2006 report that fathers who nurture and take significant responsibility for basic
childcare for their children (e.g., feeding, changing diapers) from an early age are
significantly less likely to sexually abuse their children. These fathers typically develop
such a strong connection with their children that it decreases the likelihood of any
maltreatment (25). Guterman and Lee,(2005), (26) stated that children with single parent
families headed by the mother are more likely to be maltreated and abused, and these
families were below the poverty line, the two conditions of poverty and abuse were
documented by researches to be the highly seen in working children. Father absence
was also studied and showed to be linked to physiological effect on the children (27). In
this study results showed that children in families with no father have early puberty,
and hormonal alteration caused by the absent of the father. Another effect of the father
absence is associated with antisocial personality. Pfiffner, (1999) studied 161 families
of school-age children (ages 5-11) who were consecutive referrals to a university-based
research clinic for child attention and disruptive behavior problems in Irvine,
California. (28).
2.4 Summery
The reviewed literature focused on three areas, the socio- demographic profile of working
children, the working children health statues, and the relationship between the father and
the child. Child's work is associated with poverty, children suffer from different kinds of
physical and psychological health problems, and the child s relationship with his father is
affected by mental well- being.
Few studies were conducted with Jordanian children in specific and with in western
countries, limited literature found in Arab countries in general. These studies also lack
strong evidences that link between anxiety, "relationship with the father", and socio-
23
demographic characteristics of working children.
24
Chapter 3: Methodology
children, level of anxiety, "relationship with the father", and the relationship between level
of anxiety, "relationship with the father", and socio-demographic characteristics of
working children including: family income, parental level of education, child s level of
education, parental social status, type of work, salary, and parental relationship. The
research design, sampling method, and instrument are presented in this chapter to explore
the study variables.
3.1 Design
A descriptive design was used in this study to identify the presence of relations
between the level of anxiety and the relationship with the father of working children, and
the level of anxiety and the socio-demographic factors of the working children. Descriptive
design provides the exact type of information needed about the level of anxiety,
relationship with the father, socio-demographic variables of the working children, and the
relationships among variables of the study.
3.2 Population and Sample
The target population of the study was children between 12-16 years old, who were
working at the time of the study. A convenience sample of 150 working children was
recruited to participate in the study. The inclusion criteria included, children between 12-
16 years old, working on a regular base, dropped school, and were living with biological
fathers or lived with the biological father for a period of time. To determine sample size,
25
Cohen s formula (1988) was used. A sample of 195 was calculated to detect
significance at (0.05). A total of 195 questionnaires were distributed to participant who met
the inclusion criteria, 150 agreed to participate, giving a response rate of 77%.
3.3 Setting
The study was carried out in three areas in the city of Amman. The sites were
Khuraebet Al Souk in south side of Amman, Basman in the east side of Amman, and Ras
Al-Ayn east side of Amman. The three areas are considered among the poorest areas in
Amman. Khuraebet Al Souk, where mostly children worked, has car maintenance shops. In
the other two areas, children usually work at traffic lights, sidewalks, or inside shops
selling objects like flowers, chewing gum, cigarettes, tissue paper, newspapers, and other
stuff.
The researcher and the two male assistants met children at one of the offices of an
international organization that works with child labor, prior to joining a rehabilitation
program for children who drop school.
3.4 Data Collection
A structured interview was used for data collection. Data were collected with the
help of two male assistants trained on the process of data collection and the questions of
instrument before starting data collection. Each assistant performed a supervised successful
interview session. Interviewing children was arranged with the international organization
before they joined the rehabilitation program. Each child was interviewed separately, after
his acceptance to participate in the study. Interviewers sat with each child to complete the
questions, who only read the questions and explained how child should respond.
26
3.5 Ethical Considerations
The study was approved by the JUST IRB committee, the international organization/
(Quest Scup) and Amman municipality. The agreement of the international organization
was conveyed to the researcher.
Participants were reassured that their privacy, anonymity, and confidentiality of their
responses will be protected. Children were not at any pressure to complete the
questionnaire. Participants were assured that they have the right to withdraw from the
study at any time, and their names will not be identified. Verbal agreements from each
child were obtained before starting the interview.
3.6 Instruments
Instrument used for data collection consisted of three parts, the Socio-Demographic
information part, the Father Presence Questionnaire (FPQ), and the Spielberger State- Trait
Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC).
3.6.1 Socio-Demographic Information Part:
This part consists of questions on age, number of family members, number of
working members in the family, income, parents' relationship, parents' social status,
residence, father's level of education, father's employment status, mother's level of
education, mother's employment status, child s school level, child's type of work, place of
work, payment per day, working hours per day, vacations, places vacations spent in, and
with whom they spend the vacation. Questions in this section were decided based on the
previous studies indicating the importance of such variables in determining or influencing
level of anxiety, relationship with the father, and child labor.
27
3.6.2 Father Presence Questionnaire (FPQ):
The Father Presence Questionnaire was developed by Krampe and Newton, (2006),(7)
and consists of 134 items divided into 10 scales. Each item in the questionnaire is followed
by five possible responses: never, seldom, occasionally, frequently, and always. The 10
scales are divided into three higher order factors or domains: the relationship with the
father, beliefs about the father and intergenerational family influences.
In this study the researcher used the first domain of the questionnaire which
measures the relationship with the father. This part consists of five subscales; Feeling
about the Father, Mother s Support for Relationship with Father, Perception of Father
Involvement, Physical Relationship with Father, and Father-Mother Relationship. The total
number of the 5 subscales is 63 items, Krampe and Newton, (2006).(7) The researchers of
the scale established the construct validity of the FPQ using a variety of analytic methods
with a sample of adult children (N = 608) from four regions of the United States. In
addition to extremely high reliabilities of the individual scales, they established the
factorial validity of the FPQ by means of a second-order confirmatory factor analysis.
They demonstrated the concurrent validity of the FPQ through correlations with existing
measures assessing family relationships. The FPQ appeared to be a theoretically grounded
and reliable measure of the adult child's perception of and experience with father. The
scale was translated into Arabic, since Arabic is the native language for participants.
The scoring system for this scale was obtained from the researchers. The child can
chose one of five possible answers and for each answer a score was assigned, "Never" =1,
"Seldom" =2; "Occasionally" =3; "Frequently" =4; "Almost Always" =5. The items with
an R in front of them scored in reverse, the items were 10 items from the 5 subscales. For
28
example: "R=My father ignored me" should be scored where Never is five, Seldom is
four, Occasionally is three, Frequently is two, and Almost Always is one.
The interpretation of the results of the scale is simply that, the higher the score the
more positive the relationship with the father. After calculating the scores for each
subscale, the scores were categorized into three categories, positive relation, neutral
relation, and negative relation. Each subscale was calculated and categorized separately
since each measures a separate domain.
3.6.3 State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Scale
The State-Trait anxiety Inventory Scale for children was developed by Spielberger,
1970(6) and was used to measure level of anxiety of working children. The scale consists of
40 items and is divided to two scales. The first 20 items are the State Anxiety Scale;
measures the level of anxiety of the child at the moment. The second 20 items are the Trait
Anxiety Scale; measures anxiety as a characteristic of the child. The Arabic version of the
questionnaire developed by Bandak (1994)(26) was used since it was translated and
validated with Arabic children by Bandak.
The scoring system for the state anxiety scale was based on dividing the 20 item
scale into 10 anxiety present items, for example "I feel very upset, upset, not upset" , score
1 given to the "not upset" response, 2 for the "upset" response and 3 for the "very upset"
response. The higher the score the higher the anxiety level. The total scores ranges between
20-60. Scores were then divided into three categories, high level of anxiety, moderate
level of anxiety, and low level of anxiety. In addition, mean items and standared deviations
were calculated for all items and total score. The trait anxiety scale, scoring and analysis
techniques was treated as the state anxiety scale, score 1 was given to "hardly ever", 2 to
"sometimes", and 3 to "often".
29
3.7 Validity and Reliability
The questionnaire was initially prepared in English language (except for the anxiety
scale), and then translated into Arabic language and translated back by an expert panel
from Jordan University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Nursing. This process was
achieved to ensure face and content validity of the instrument. Few changes were
suggested by the panel of expertise concerning translation of some words, and wording of
sentences in some questions. Changes were integrated in the final version.
A pilot study was conducted to test the instrument used in this study which is the
father presence questionnaire, for reliability, as well as to giving an insight about clarity,
understandability, accessibility of the sample, and time needed to fill the questionnaire by
participants. Results of the pilot study showed that the questionnaire needed 25-30 minutes
to be completed; no problems in the clarity and understandability of the questionnaire were
detected.
The reliability of the Relationship with the Father Scale and anxiety scale was
measured in the pilot study, the Cronbach's Alpha Coefficient of the questionnaire in the
pilot study was (0.95), and the Cronbach's Alpha Coefficient for the main study was (0.95).
The five sub-scales were measured for the Cronbach s Alpha Coefficient in the pilot and
the main study and are presented in table (1).
30
Table 1: Cronbach s Alpha coefficient value in the pilot and the main study
Scales Number Cronbach s Cronbach s
of items Alpha for Alpha for main
pilot study study
Feelings about the Father 13 .85 .83
Mother's Support for Relationship 14 .62 .78
with Father
Perception of Father's Involvement 14 .93 .89
Physical Relationship with Father 9 .92 .85
Father-Mother Relationship 13 .54 .80
Total relationship with the father 63 .95 .95
State anxiety 20 .50 .77
Trait anxiety 20 .71 .86
3.8 Data Analysis
The completed questionnaires were sorted out and prepared for data entry after
completion of 150 interviews which lasted for three months. Data revealed from the
relationship with the father and anxiety scales were ordinal type of data, data revealed from
the socio-demographic variables were both ordinal and categorical data.
Data were analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 15.
Data obtained from 150 working child were analyzed using parametric and non parametric
tests, including frequencies, percentages, mean, standard deviation, Pearson s Correlation
Coefficient Chi Square Test and Regression Analysis.
3.9 Summary
This chapter provides description of the design and methods used in this study. A
convenience sample of 150 working children from three areas in Amman, Khuraebet Al
Souk in south side of Amman, Basman in the east side of Amman, and Ras Al-Ayn east
side of Amman, was used for sample selection. A structured interview was used for the
data collection, using a three part questionnaire, 19 items for the socio-demographic
variables, 63 items for the relationship with the father scale by Krampe and Newton,
(2006),(7) and 40 items for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children by Spielberger,
31
(1970)(6). The chapter also included the results of reliability testing which showed that the
instrument is reliable.
32
Chapter Four: The Findings of the Study
children, level of anxiety, relationship with the father and the relationship between level of
anxiety, relationship with the father, and socio-demographic characteristics of working
children including: family income, parental level of education, child s level of education,
parental social status, type of work, salary, and parental relationship. This chapter presents
results from a convenience sample of 150 working children. Descriptive statistics including
frequencies, percentages, mean, and standard deviation were used in addition to Pearson s
Correlation Coefficient Chi-Square and Regression Analysis to answer the research
questions.
4.1 Socio-Demographic profile of working children
Descriptive analysis of socio-demographic data showed that the mean score for age
was (13.95± 1.42) with the range of 12-16 years old. The mean score for the number of
family members was (5.55±2.12). Mean of working members in the family was (1.97 ±
1.102). The family income mean was (246± 146.43). The mean of the child s payment per
day was (3.32 ± 1.37). The mean of working hours per day was (8.62± 2.770), results are
presented in table 2.
Data on child-parent relationship showed that 42% reported excellent relationship
with their parents, and 10% reported weak relationship. Results on the social status of the
parents, participant showed that (25%) were divorced, and the majority of children were
living with their parents and siblings (71%).
33
Most of the children had parents who have less than high school education, 43.3%
for the fathers, and 52.7% for the mothers. The percentage of working parents showed that
70% of fathers are working, and 75.3% of mothers are not working. Data on children s
level of education showed that 43.3% of children have elementary school level, 36% have
primary school, and 20.7% have secondary school. Most of the children were working in
vocational jobs (34.7%) and (42.7%) worked in shops that they do not own. The salary of
children varies between less than 1JD (0.7%) and more than 5JDs (19.3%), and the
remaining are in between, with 34% take 2.5-3.5JDs. Nearly half of the children were
working more than 8 Hrs daily (49.3%), and (51.3%) of them work 40-50 Hrs weekly.
Percentage of the children who take days off was 90.7%, where 84% of them spend
their free time at home with their families.
Table 2: Mean Standard Deviation, Frequency and Percent of Socio-Demographic

Characteristics of the Study Sample. N= 150
Std. Range
Variable Mean
Deviation
Age 13.95 1.432 12-16
Number of family members 5.55 2.119 3-12
Working members in the family 1.97 1.102 1-6
Family income 246.00 146.434 100-660
Salary per day 3.32 1.368 1-7
Working hours/day 8.62 2.770 2-12
Variable Frequency Percentage
Perceived parent s relationship
15 10.0
weak
32 21.3
good
40 26.7
very good
63 42.0
Excellent
Parent s social status
16 10.7
divorced
113 75.3
not divorced
17 11.3
father dead
4 2.7
mother dead
Child lives with
107 71.3
Family
29 19.3
mother and sibling
9 6.0
father and sibling
5 3.3
Friends
34
Father s level of education
46 30.7
illiterate
91 60.6
high school and less
13 8.7
university education and more
Father s working status

105 70.0
working
45 30.0
not working
Mother s level of education
44 29.3
illiterate
96 64
high school and less
10 6.7
university education and more
Mother s working status
37 24.7
working
113 75.3
not working
Child s school level
54 36
primary school level
65 43.3
elementary school level
31 20.7
secondary school level
Type of work
27 18.0
seller
52 34.7
vocational jobs
3 2.0
farmer
14 9.3
carrying objects
30 20.0
serving jobs
24 16.0
cleaning jobs
Child s work place

55 36.6
on street
5 3.3
family shop
70 46.6
shop for others
13 8.7
factory
7 4.8
Others
Child s days off
136 90.7
take days off
14 9.3
do not take days off
Child s days off spent at
126 84.0
in the home
15 10.0
in the street
5 3.3
in the market
4 2.7
anywhere with friends
Days off spent with
114 76.0
with family
34 22.7
with friends
2 1.3
Alone
35
4.2 State-Trait Anxiety of Participants
The STAIC consists of two subscales: the State Anxiety Scale and the Trait Anxiety
Scale. This section presents results of the state, trait anxiety scales. The two scales were
analyzed separately since they measure two different types of anxiety.
4.2.1 State Anxiety of participants
The subscale measures the anxiety level at the moment, or the level of situation
anxiety. The scores ranged from 20, the lowest score, to 60, the highest score. Results
showed that the mean score of state anxiety was 43.56 ±7.04. The mean score ± one
standered diviation was used to categorize responses into low, moderate, and high levels of
anxiety. The scores less than 36.52 were cosidered low level of anxiety, scores between
36.52-50.6 were considered moderate level of anxiety, and more than 50.6 scores were
cosidered high level of anxiety. Means and standard deviations of the State Anxiety Scale
items are presented in table (3).
Table 3: means and standard deviation of the state anxiety scale items
Item Item Mean Std. Item Item Mean Std.
No. Deviation No. Deviation
1 calm 2.07 .73 11 frightened 2.39 .75
2 upset 2.34 .73 12 happy 1.97 .7
3 pleased 1.95 .72 13 Sure 2.07 1.71
4 nervous 2.33 1.00 14 good 1.97 .69
5 jittery 2.39 .68 15 Troubled 2.37 .71
6 rested 1.89 .76 16 Bothered 2.51 .63
7 scared 2.41 .74 17 Nice 1.95 .72
8 relaxing 1.83 .75 18 Terrified 2.42 .72
9 Worried 2.38 .74 19 Mixed-up 2.43 .70
10 Satisfied 1.93 .76 20 Cheerful 1.88 .77
Item scores ranges from 1-3
Table (3) shows that means of children responses on their feelings items ranged
between 2.51- 1.83 and the standard deviations ranged between 0.63- 0.75.
36
Also the table shows that the highest mean was reported for the statement I m
bothered which has the highest mean (M= 2.51± 0.63) followed by the statement scared
(M= 2.41±.74), and the two statements jittery (M=2.39±.68), and frightened
(M=2.39±.75).
The lowest mean scores for the state anxiety were reported for the statements I m
relaxed , (M= 1.83± 0.75), rested (M= 1.89± .76), and pleased with (M= 1.95±.72).
The result of this scale showed that 8.7% (n= 13) of participants had low level of
state anxiety, 18.7% (n= 28) of the participants had high level of state anxiety, and 72.7%
(n= 109) had moderate level of state anxiety. Results of the distribution of participants
according to their levels of anxiety are presented in table 4.
Table 4: Distribution of Participants According to Levels of State Anxiety

Anxiety levels Frequency Percent
Low 13 8.7
Moderate 109 72.7
High 28 18.6
Total 150 100
4.2.2. Trait Anxiety of participants
The trait anxiety scale measures the anxiety as a distinguishing quality or
characteristic, as of personality. Using the mean score and standered deviation, scale was
categorized into three categories. The mean was 38.55 ±7.99, the mean score ± one
standered diviation was used to catigorize children as having low, moderate, and high
levels of anxiety. The scores less than 30.5 were cosidered low level of anxiety, scores
between 30.5- 46.5 were considered moderate level of anxiety, and more than 46.5 scores
were the high level of anxiety. Means and standard deviations of the Trait Anxiety scale
items are presented in table 5.
37
Table 5: Means and Standard Deviations of the Trait Anxiety Scale
Item No. Items Mean Std. Dev.
1 I worry about making mistakes 1.99 0.73
2 I feel like crying 1.92 0.74
3 I feel unhappy 2.03 0.73
4 I have trouble making up my mind 1.99 0.81
5 It is difficult for me to face my problems 1.97 0.76
6 I worry too much 1.99 0.74
7 I get upset at home 2.07 0.77
8 I m shy 1.91 0.78
9 I feel trouble 1.85 0.74
10 unimportant run through my mind and bother me 1.95 0.76
11 I worry about school 1.91 0.79
12 I have trouble deciding what to do
1.91 0.74
13 I notice my heart beats fast 1.91 0.81
14 I worry about my parents 1.93 0.79
15 I worry about things may happen
1.99 0.77
16 I feel secretly afraid 1.89 0.80
17 My hand sweating 1.69 0.73
18 It is hard for me to fall asleep at night 1.87 0.76
19 I get funny feeling in my stomach 1.85 0.79
20 I worry about what others think of me 1.90 0.81
Item Scores ranged from 1-3
Table (5) shows that, means of children responses on their feelings items ranged
between 2.07 1.69, standard deviations ranged between 0.81 0.73. The highest mean
was reported to the item (7) which says I get upset at home which ranked first (M= 2.07
a± 0.77), followed by item (3) which says I feel I m not happy (M= 2.03± 0.73). The
lowest mean was reported for item (17) which says my hand sweating (M= 1.69± 0.73),
and the item (9) I feel trouble (M= 1.85± .74).
Results showed that 14.7% (n= 22) of the children had low level of trait anxiety, 16.7
% (n= 25) had high level of trait anxiety, and 68.7% (n= 103) had moderate level of trait
anxiety. Results of the distribution of participants according to their Trait levels of anxiety
are presented in table (6).
38
Table 6: Distribution of Participants According to Levels of Trait Anxiety
Anxiety levels Frequency Percent
Low 22 14.6
Moderate 103 68.7
High 25 16.7
Total 150 100
The total mean for the trait anxiety scale was (M=1.93±043), which is lower than
the total mean score for the state anxiety scale which was (M 2.10± .52).
4.3 Working Children Relationship with the Father :
The FPQ measures the father s relation with the child. it consists of five subscales;
Feelings about the Father (13 items), Mother s Support for Relationship with Father (14
items), Perception of Father's Involvement (14 items), Physical Relationship with Father (9
items), and the Father-Mother Relationship (13 items).
Table (7) shows that the total mean for children relationships toward their fathers
was 3.54 and a standard deviation 0.73. Results showed that the Feelings about the father
subscale has the highest mean (M=3.74 ±0.87) followed by Mother's support for
relationship with father subscale (M= 3.71, ±0.81), the Father-Mother Relationship (M=
3.57, ± 0.85), and the perception of the father involvement (M=3.42 ±0.90). The lowest
mean was reported for the Physical relationship with father (M= 3.14 ±0.97). Results of
means and standard deviations for the relationship with the father on five subscales are
Table 7: Means and Standard Deviations of children Responses on five subscales of the
Relationship with the Father Scale
The subscale Std.
No. Mean
Dev.
Feelings about
1 3.74 0.87
the father
2 Mother's support for relationship with father 3.71 0.81
5 Father- mother 3.57 0.85
39
relationship
Perception of
3 3.42 0.90
father's involvement
Physical relationship
4 3.14 0.97
with father
The Total 3.54 0.73
The measurement of the five subscales revealed the measurement of the relationship
with the father, around 42.7% (n=64) of the children reported positive relation with the
father, 30.7% (n= 46) reported negative relation with father, and 26.7% (n= 40) reported
neutral relation with the father. Results of distribution of Participants According to
relationship with the father scale are presented in table 8.
Table 8: Distribution of Participants According to Relationship with the Father Scale

Type of relation Frequency Percent
Negative relation 46 30.7

neutral relation 40 26.7
Positive relation 64 42.7
4.3.1 Feelings about the Father
Means of children responses on the feeling about the father subscale items ranged
between 3.99 3.38, standard deviations ranged between 1.18 1.62. Results showed that
item (2) which says As a child, I felt warm and safe when I was with my father , had the
highest mean (M=3.99±1.20), followed by item (8) which says My father has a special
place in my life and no one can replace him (M= 3.98±1.36). While item (1) which says
I could/can talk with my father about anything , had the lowest mean (M= 3.74± 0.87).
Results of Mean scores and Standard Deviations of children s responses on the "Feelings
about the Father" subscale are presented in table 9.
40
Table 9: Means and Standard Deviations of children s responses on the "Feelings about
the Father" subscale
Std.
No. Items Mean
Dev.
1 I could/can talk with my father about anything 3.38 1.41
As a child, I felt warm and safe when I was with
2 3.99 1.20
my father
3 I felt/feel close to my father 3.71 1.20
4 My father is very important to me 3.95 1.27
I felt my father was behind me and supported my
5 3.47 1.44
choices or activities
6 I looked up to my father 3.82 1.22
7 I felt/feel inspired by my father 3.63 1.26
My father has a special place in my life and no one
8 3.98 1.36
can replace him
9 I need my father 3.91 1.62
10 My father and I enjoyed/enjoy being together 3.75 1.18
11 I want to be like my father 3.56 1.52
When I remember past experiences with my father,
12 I feel angry 3.47 1.32
13 I feel disappointed with my father 3.95 1.35

The Total subscale 3.74 0.87
Result of the subscale Feeling about the father , showed that 50% (n=75) of the children
reported positive feelings about the father; the other 50% were divided between the neutral
feeling 28 %( n=42), and the negative feeling 22% (n=33), are presented in table 10.
Table 10: Frequencies and Percentages of the Feeling about the Father Subscale Results
Feelings about the Father
Frequency Percent
Negative 33 22,0
Neutral 42 28,0
Positive 75 50,0
4.3.2 Mother's Support for Relationship with Father
Result of the mother s support for relationship with father subscale showed that means of
children responses on the second subscale items ranged between 4.00 - 3.20, standard
deviations ranged between 1.54 1.08. Item (14) which says My mother thought my
41
father was foolish had the highest mean (M=4.00±1.29), Item (6) which says My mother
loved my father very much ranked second (M= 3.93±1.17). While item (1) which says
mother encouraged me to talk with my father had the lowest mean (M= 3.20±1.32). The
total mean of Mothers Support for Relationship with Father (M=3.71 ±0.81), results of
Means and Standard Deviations of Participants' Responses on the Second subscale
"Mother's support for relationship with father are presented in table 11.
Table 11: Means and Standard Deviations of Participants' Responses on the Second
subscale "Mother's support for relationship with father"
Std.
No. Items Mean
Dev.
1 My mother encouraged me to talk to my father 3.20 1.32
2 My mother was affectionate to my father 3.86 1.25
3 My mother respected my father's judgment 3.73 1.25
My mother liked it when my father and I
4 3.37 1.28
engaged in activities together
5 My mother liked it when my father touched her 3.89 1.14
6 My mother loved my father very much 3.93 1.17
My mother appreciated things my father did for
7 3.82 1.27
us
I liked the way my mother talked about my
8 3.68 1.15
father
9 My mother really knew my father 3.60 1.31
10 My mother wanted me to be close to my father 3.82 1.08
My mother had high regard for and respected
11 3.92 1.28
my father
My mother did not think very highly of my
12 3.54 1.54
father
13 My mother was critical of my father 3.51 1.54
14 My mother thought my father was foolish 4.00 1.29
The Total Mean 3.71 0.81
Results of the Mother s Support for Relationship with Father subscale showed that
the majority of children reported neutral support in their relation with the father, 45%
(n=68) of the children, 35% (n=53) of children reported positive support of their relation
with the father, and 19% (n=29) reported negative support. The results of the distribution
42
of participants according to their mother's support of the relationship with the father are
Table 12: distribution of participants according to Mothers Support for the Relationship
with Father subscale
Mother s Support for Relationship with Father
Frequency Percent
Negative 29 19,3
Neutral 68 45,3
Positive 53 35,3
4.3.3 Perception of Father's Involvement
Results showed that means of children responses on the perception of father s
involvement subscale items ranged between 3.84 - 2.66, standard deviations ranged
between 1.51 1.23. Item (9) which says My father taught me right from wrong had the
highest mean (M= 3.84 ±1.23), followed by Item (10) which says My father listened to
me when I would talk with him (M=3.83±1.26). While the item (5) which says My father
attended my sporting events or other activities in which I participated had lowest mean
(M= 2.66±1.51). The overall mean of the children relationships on the domain is 3.42 and
standard deviation is 1.26. Results of the Means and Standard Deviations of Participants'
Responses on the Third subscale "Perception of Father's involvement" are presented in
table 13.
Table 13: Means and Standard Deviations of the Participants' Responses on the Third
subscale "Perception of Father's involvement"
Std.
No. Items Mean
Dev.
My father helped me with school work when I
1 3.13 1.50
asked him
2 My father helped me learn new things 3.59 1.34
3 My father attended my school functions 2.87 1.46
My father and I participated in activities or hobbies
4 3.02 1.43
together
My father attended my sporting events or other
5 2.66 1.51
activities in which I participated
I could go to my father for advice or help with a
6 3.56 1.29
problem
43
7 My father helped me to think about my future 3.51 1.31
8 My father was concerned about my safety 3.71 1.29
9 My father taught me right from wrong 3.84 1.23
My father listened to me when I would talk with
10 3.83 1.26
him
11 My father told me that he loved me 3.57 1.36
12 My father understood me 3.41 1.31
13 My father encouraged me 3.59 1.27
14 When I was a child, my father ignored me 3.56 1.50
Total 3.42 0.90
Results of the third subscale, Perception of Father s Involvement showed equal
distribution between the three categories (positive, neutral, and negative). The percentages
of children in three categories were 33% (n=50), 32% (n=49), and 34% (n=51) for
negative, positive, and neutral feelings, respectively. Results of distribution of participants
according to Perception of the Father Involvement subscale are presented in table 14.
Table 14: Distribution of Participants According to Perception of the Father

Involvement Subscale
Perception of Father's Involvement
Frequency Percent
Negative 50 33.3
neutral 49 32.7
Positive 51 34.0
4.3.4 Physical Relationship with Father
Results showed that means of children responses on the physical relationship with father
subscale items ranged between 3.81 - 2.27, standard deviations ranged between 1.51
1.26. Item (4) which says My father held me when I was a baby had highest mean (M=
3.81 ± 1.27), followed by item (9) which says My father would talk with me when I was a
baby (M= 3.63±1.26). While the Item (7) which says My father changed my diapers or
bathed me when I was a baby had lowest mean (M= 2.27±1.39). The total mean of
children relationships on the domain was (M= 3.14 ±0.97). Results of the Means and
44
Standard Deviations of the Participants' Responses on the Fourth subscale "Physical
relationship with father" are presented in table 15.
Table 15: Means and Standard Deviations of the Participants' Responses on the Fourth
subscale "Physical relationship with father"
Std.
No. Items Mean
Dev.
1 I sat on my father's lap 2.79 1.46
2 My father hugged and/or kissed me 3.09 1.50
3 My father let me sit on his shoulders 2.87 1.51
4 My father held me when I was a baby 3.81 1.27
My father would hold my hand or put his arm
5 3.33 1.50
around me
6 My father tucked me into bed 3.08 1.51
My father changed my diapers or bathed me when
7 2.27 1.39
I was a baby
8 I liked being held by my father 3.38 1.40
9 My father would talk with me when I was a baby 3.63 1.26
Physical Relationship with Father, unlike the other scales, showed that the higher percent
was reported for the negative relation with the father, 40.7% (n=61) of the children, 24%
(n=36) was reported for the neutral relation, and 35 %( n=53) for good relation. Results of
the distribution of participants according to physical relationship with father subscale are
Table 16: Distribution of Participants According to Physical Relationship with Father

subscale
Physical Relationship with Father
Frequency Percent
Negative 61 40.7
Neutral 36 24.0
Positive 53 35.3
45
4.3.5 Father-Mother Relationship
Means of children s responses on the father-mother relationship subscale items ranged
between 3.82 - 2.27, standard deviations ranged between 1.51 1.26. Item (13) which says
My mother could not stand my father had the highest mean (M=3.82 ±1.36), followed by
item (4) which says I hope that my marriage is just like my parents' marriage (M=
3.81±1.27). While the Item (7) which says My father and mother were open and honest
with one another was the lowest (M= 2.27±1.39). The total mean of the father-mother
relationship was (M= 3.57 ±0.85). Results of Means and Standard Deviations of the
Participants' Responses on the Fifth subscale Father-Mother Relationship presented in
table 17.
Table 17: Means and Standard Deviations of the Participants' Responses on the Fifth
subscale Father- Mother Relationship"
Std.
No. Items Mean
Dev.
1 My mother and father really enjoyed each other's company 2.79 1.46
2 My father's and mother's relationship made me feel good 3.09 1.50
3 My father and mother supported and helped each other 2.87 1.51
4 I hope that my marriage is just like my parents' marriage 3.81 1.27
5 My father and mother understood each other 3.33 1.50
6 My father and mother were emotionally close to one another 3.08 1.51
7 My father and mother were open and honest with one another 2.27 1.39
8 My father listened to my mother 3.38 1.40
9 My father appreciated the things my mother did for us 3.63 1.26
When I was around my father and mother at the same time,
10 3.59 1.42
my body would feel tight or in other ways uncomfortable
11 I wondered why my father and mother married each other 3.51 1.47
12 My father and/or mother disliked each other 3.79 1.31
13 My mother could not stand my father 3.82 1.36
Results of Father-Mother Relationship, showed that children reported similar distributions
for the negative and neutral relations, 36.7% (n=55) and, 36% (n=54) respectively, positive
46
relations reported by children was 27% (n=41). Results of distribution of participants
according to Father- Mother Relationship subscale are presented in table 18.
Table 18: Distribution of Participants According to Father- Mother Relationship

subscale
Father-Mother Relationship
Frequency Percent
Negative 55 36.7
Neutral 54 36.0
Positive 41 27.3
4.4 Relationship between state and trait anxiety, relationship with the father, and the
demographic characteristics of participants
Result of the relationship with the father, levels of anxiety and continuous variables using
Pearson s Correlation are presented in table (19). Results showed that there was a
significant negative correlation between relationship with the father and family income (r=
- .193) p= .02. The age of the child was positively correlated to the state anxiety level of
children (r= .189) p= .02. On the other hand the age was significantly negative correlated
to the trait anxiety level, whereas the number of working members in the family was
significantly positive correlated to the trait anxiety level (r=.186 ) Results of Pearson s
Correlation between relationship with the father, state anxiety, and trait anxiety, and
selected socio-demographic variables are presented in table 19.
Table 19: Pearson s correlation between relationship with the father, state anxiety, and
trait anxiety, and selected socio-demographic variables
Variable Relationship State anxiety Trait anxiety
with father
Age --- .189(*) -.207(*)
Working members in family --- --- .186(*)
Family income -.193(*) --- ---
* Correlation is significant at 0.05 level (2-tailed).
47
Results of the association between state anxiety levels and demographic variables
including father s education level, mother s education level, type of Child s work, days off
taken by the child, places where days off being spent, and days off spent with, were all
positively associated with state anxiety. Table (20) presents the Chi-Square of the socio-
demographic variables and state anxiety.
Table 20: Chi-Square of the Socio-Demographic Variable and State Anxiety Scale
State anxiety
Variable
value df P
Fathers education 24.43 8 .002
Mothers education 19.31 6 .004
Type of work 56.05 12 .000
Days off 5.81 2 .055
Days off places 24.23 6 .000
Days off spent with 15.44 4 .004
Significant at P< 0.05
Results of the association between trait anxiety and socio-demographic variables showed a
significant association with parent s relation, father's education, father's work, mother's
education, mother's work, days off places, and days off spent with. All were positively
associated with the trait anxiety of the children. Table (21) presents the Chi-Square of the
socio-demographic variables and trait anxiety.
Table 21: Chi-Square of the Socio-Demographic Variable and Trait Anxiety Scale
Trait Anxiety
Variable
value df P
Parents relation 34.848 6 .000
Fathers education 20.59 8 .008
Fathers work 8.56 2 .014
Mothers education 25.36 6 .000
Mothers work 8.60 2 .014
48
Days off places 12.26 6 .056
Results of the association between the relationship with the father and demographic
variables showed significance association with parent s relation, social status of the
parents, child s type of work, child s work place, child s days off, and days off spent with.
All were positively associated with the relationship with the father. Table 22 shows the
results of Chi-Square of the socio-demographic variable and the relationship with the
father scale.
Table 22: Chi-Square of the socio-demographic variable and the relationship with the
father scale
Relationship with the father
Variable
value df P
Perceived Parents relation 30.8 6 .000
Social status of parents 17.7 6 .007
Type of work 30.9 12 .002
Work place 30.7 8 .000
Days off 16.6 2 .000
4.5 Relationship between State Anxiety scale and "Relationship with the Father":
Result showed that the state level of anxiety was significantly associated to the relationship
with the father, the Chi-Square value 8.12, P=.017, df= 2. The results of the Chi-Square for
association between state anxiety and relationship with the father are presented in table
(23).
49
Table 23: Results of Chi-Square for association between state anxiety and relationship
with the father
Value df P
Pearson Chi-Square 8.12 2 .017

Likelihood Ratio 8.74 2 .013
Linear-by-Linear Association .63 1 .426
Significance at P< 0.05
4.6 Relationship between Trait anxiety scale and "Relationship with the father"
The Chi-Square test results showed significant association between the relationship with
the father and the trait anxiety levels of the children. Chi-Square value= 14.06, P= .001,
df= 2. Results presented in table 24.
Table 24: results of Chi-Square for association between trait anxiety and relationship with
the father
Value df P
Pearson Chi-Square 14.063(a) 2 .001

Likelihood Ratio 15.406 2 .000
Linear-by-Linear Association .167 1 .683
Significance at P< 0.05
Further analysis using multiple regressions was used to investigate the association between
the study variables and the relationship with the father scale, and the state- trait anxiety
inventory. Results of regression analysis of the relationship with the father scale with the
independent variables include age, family size, working members of family, family
income, parents' relation, social status of parents, child's residence, father's education,
father's work, mother's education, mother's work, child's education, type of work, work
place, salary, daily working hours, child's days off, free time places, free time company,
state anxiety, and trait anxiety, showed that number of family members, working members
on family, child's living with, father's education, mother's education, parent relation, child's
days off, child's work place, working hour's/ day, days off spent with, state anxiety, and
50
trait anxiety are significantly associated with the "relationship with the father. The
variables together explains about 56% of the variance in the "relationship with the father"
(R²= .56), Table (25) presents results of regression analysis for variables predicting the
relationship with the father of working children.
Table 25: Result of Regression Analysis for Variables Predicting the Relationship with the
Father of Working Children
Standardized
Coefficients df F P
Beta Std. Error Beta Std. Error Beta
Number of family members .171 .086 2 3.932 .023
Working members in family .178 .095 2 3.490 .034
Parent relation .461 .091 4 25.893 .000
Living with .172 .092 2 3.465 .035
Father education -.222 .096 2 5.311 .006
Mother education -.185 .099 3 3.524 .018
Type of work .202 .073 3 7.655 .000
Work place -.182 .080 3 5.130 .002
Working hours/day -.349 .099 3 12.494 .000
Days off -.315 .080 2 15.636 .000
Days off spent with .189 .077 3 6.014 .001
State anxiety .152 .078 3 3.760 .013
Trait anxiety -.212 .082 1 6.699 .011
R= .75 R²= .56
Results of regression analysis of the state anxiety scale scores and the study variables
including age, family size, working members of family, family income, parents relation,
social status of parents, child's residence, father's education, father's work, mother's
education, mother's work, child's education, type of work, work place, salary, daily
working hours, child's days off, free time places, and free time spent with, showed that
Number of family members, Family income, Parent relation, child's Living with, Father's
51
education, Father's work, child's Education, Type of work, Work of place, Salary, Days
off, and Days off spent with are significantly associated with the state anxiety. The
variables together explains about 47% of the variance in the level of the state anxiety (R²=
.47). Table (26) presents results of the regression analysis for variables predicting the state
anxiety of working children.
Table 26: Results of Regression Analysis for Variables Predicting the State Anxiety of
Working Children
Standardized
Coefficients df F P
Number of family members -.181 .084 4 4.605 .002
Family income -.181 .083 2 4.733 .011
Parent relation -.438 .106 2 17.207 .000
Living with -.362 .089 1 16.615 .000
Father's education .280 .113 1 6.122 .015
Father's work .197 .091 2 4.731 .011
Education .274 .086 2 10.075 .000
Type of work .207 .081 1 6.570 .012
Work of place .160 .087 2 3.351 .039
Salary .243 .084 3 8.366 .000
Days off .319 .084 2 14.510 .000
Days off spent with -.306 .081 3 14.269 .000
R= .68 R²= .47
Moreover the results of the regression analysis of the trait anxiety scale scores and
study variables including age, family size, working members of family, family income,
parents' relation, social status of parents, child's residence, father's education, father's work,
mother's education, mother's work, child's education, type of work, work place, salary,
daily working hours, child's days off, free time places, and free time company, showed that
mother's education, parents' relation, and child's work place, are associated with the trait
52
anxiety for the children. The variables together explained about 57% of the variance in the
trait anxiety. Table (27) presents results of the regression analysis for variables predicting
the trait anxiety of working children.
Table 27: Results of Regression Analysis for Variables Predicting the Trait Anxiety of
Working Children
Standardized df F P
Coefficients
Number of family members -.190 .077 1 6.113 .015
Working members of family .329 .084 3 15.200 .000
Parent relation -.251 .087 2 8.357 .000
Parents' social status .136 .075 2 3.344 .039
Living with -.189 .092 2 4.247 .017
Father education .183 .099 4 3.454 .011
Father work .267 .077 2 12.097 .000
Mother's education -.373 .095 2 15.445 .000
Mother's work -.137 .077 2 3.108 .049
Education -.291 .076 1 14.681 .000
Workplace -.233 .077 1 9.028 .003
Day off -.192 .079 2 5.850 .004
Places days off spent in -.298 .110 1 7.357 .008
Days off spent with .358 .112 1 10.315 .002
R= .76 R²= .57
4.7 Summary
This chapter presents the finding of the study on socio-demographic profile, working
children s state and trait levels of anxiety, and working children relationship with their
fathers. Results showed that mean age of working children was 13.9, working children
came from poor families, less educated parents, mean working hours per day for the
children was 8.62 Hrs.
53
Children found to have moderate to high levels of anxiety, in both the state and trait
anxiety. Children had positive relationship with their fathers, although their scoring of the
relationship with the father subscales showed that two of the subscales had negative scores
(physical relation with the father, and father-mother relationship), one had neutral score
(mother s support to the relationship with the father), two had positive scores (feeling
about the father, and perception of father s involvement).
Results showed that state anxiety, trait anxiety, and the relationship with the father were
significantly associated with the socio-demographic profile of working children, as the
correlation tests used and the regression analysis results showed.
54
Chapter five: Discussion
The purpose of this study was to identify socio-demographic profile of working children,
level of anxiety, relationship with the father and the relationship between level of
anxiety, relationship with the father , and socio-demographic characteristics of working
children including; family income, parental level of education, child s level of education,
In this chapter the focus will be on the interpretation of the findings from social-
cultural perspectives of Jordanians and in relation to the cited literature. The discussion
will be guided by the research questions. This chapter will also include the
recommendations and implications of the study.
5.1 Socio-demographic profile of working children:
The mean age of working children was (13.9yrs) which indicated young workers
who came from poor families, less educated parents. Children who work dropout of school
at early stages to join the labor force. Most of the children are working on vocational jobs,
to learn a profession to secure a financial resource for them and their families. Although
the labor laws in Jordan forbids child labor under the age of 15, and allowing it for the age
of 16 under certain conditions, almost half of the children are younger than this age and are
working more than 8 hours per day, with very low wages. Although children under 16 are
allowed to work under certain circumstances such as not to work more than 6 hours with at
least one hour break for each 4 hours work, and not to work between 8 pm and 6 am,
children in this study worked more than 4 hours with little breaks. (7).
55
5.2 Level of Anxiety of Working Children
The study findings revealed that, anxiety levels were moderate to high, for both, the state
and trait anxiety. These results can be explained by many ways; the stressful nature of
child labor, and the social and economical background of children characterized by the low
family income and the low level of education of both the parents and the children.
Results of this study are supported by previous studies which found anxiety to be
associated with poor school achievement, poor social status, history of being abused, lack
of attention from loved ones, and being insecure socially and financially; (9,13,14,19,20,21).
The low anxiety among some children can be explained by the fact that these children were
interviewed prior to joining a new rehabilitation program, and they were well looked after
by the team.
5.3 Relationship with the Father
Mothers and fathers play very different roles in the lives of their children. While mothers
usually take on more custodial/routine care giving roles such as feeding and cleaning,
fathers tend to engage in more social stimulation and interactive activities, for example,
play activities, and helping with homework (23).
It is expected that the relationship between children and their fathers to be positive,
findings from this study showed that children had neutral to negative relationship with the
father in four out of five subscales measuring the relationship with the father. Children in
this study have negative to positive feelings regarding the relationship with their fathers,
with quit good percentage of mixed or undecided feelings. More negative feelings were
reported in the areas of the "physical relationship with the father", "the perception of the
father s involvement", and finally the "mother- father relationship". These negative
feelings are expected and can be explained by some of the socio- demographic
characteristic regarding child rearing. The negative feelings describing the "physical
56
relationship with the father" have a cultural roots and practices; men in the Jordanian
culture value boys and are very pleased when having them. But men holds a cultural
believe that holding and spoiling boys might affect their future personality by becoming
weak men . Therefore avoiding physical contact like hugging and kissing once boys
reach school age or even younger. The negative feelings toward the perception of father s
involvement might be related to cultural believes that men have different roles than
women. Men have no role in child care in the early stages of the lives of their children until
the boy becomes over the age of five where the father starts to engage children in men
activities, but children in this study perceived their parents to have distance from them.
The negative feelings toward the perceived "mother- father relationship" can be explained
by the financial, educational, and social status of the family; both the mother and father are
less educated, unemployed, and poor. In addition 25% of children are not living with a
family that has both the mother and the father.
Although the direct question of how children describe the relationship between them
mother and father, majority of children indicated that the relationship to be good and even
excellent, which contradicts the indirect measures of the mother- father relationship
subscale. This can be explained by the feeling of children that parental relationships are
privet family matters. Children could have problems or differences between them and their
parents or siblings, but usually it stays inside the family, and they are not allowed to
disclose it to others. Although parents face problems in their life but they stay together and
play a very important role in the lives of their children, not only by providing guidance and
support, but they also greatly influence the outcomes of their children (25). Being a child
having the father as the male figure to look up to, will contribute to support the relationship
with the father. It is also important to realize that the amount of time spent with the child,
57
the quality of the experience, and emotional aspects of the father-child relationship benefit
children, Recker (2006), (23).
5.4 The Relationship between Anxiety Levels and the Relationship with the Father
Anxiety and father relation is significantly correlated in this study, the significance relation
between anxiety levels and relationship with the father was evident in the study findings
and supported by many previous studies. Having the father as the head of the family, and
the one who is responsible for family needs and demands, looking to the father as the base
of the child's safety network, all these factors increase the child's feeling of being secure
when his father is around. (23, 28). Although there were some studies showed the 17% of
perpetrators are biological fathers (25), another studies found that In the absence of the
father, children are more likely to be maltreated and abused (27). Father absence might have
physiological symptoms on the children like headache, stomachache, and in some cases
children may have hormonal alterations (27). Another study found that absence of the father
may affect the children s social life; children will have antisocial personality (24).
All mentioned studies support the notion that relation with the father influences the child's
level of anxiety as documented in this study. This could be explained by the cultural norm
that the father is the main figure of family in Jordan, and children lookup to their fathers.
On the other hand the study found that the fathers are less attached to their children
physically, this could be caused by the fathers underestimation of small gesture like
carrying, or holding the child which may increase level of anxiety of these children. Prior
research has indicated frequent and regular contact with the father is associated with more
intense relationships and fewer adjustment problems in children, and father-child
relationships have an important influence on child outcomes and well-being (28). This could
lead the child to feel neglected, neglect as any kind of abuse will increase the stress and
anxiety levels on the child and decrease the self esteem. Studies have shown that warm
58
and responsive parenting styles predict social competence and cooperative behavior, while
hostile and neglectful parenting styles are associated with aggression, deviant behaviors,
and adjustment problems (28)
The study showed that the father- mother relation negatively affected the child's
relationship with the father. The result could be explained by the fact that children came
from broken families, less educated parents, and low socioeconomic status. These factors
will lead the child to hate the home environment.
5.5 Relationships between Level of Anxiety, Relationship with the Father , and
Socio-Demographic Variables of Working Children
Children s level of anxiety and relationship with the father was found to be associated with
socio-demographic characteristics of the child. Family characteristics are affecting the
child s responses toward his surrounding environment, as most of the childhood studies
stated. Positive or negative effects enhance or suppress the child s relationship with his
father as well as his level of anxiety.
5.5.1 Anxiety and Socio-Demographic Variables
Both state and trait anxiety were correlated with child s age, number of working members
in the family, family income, father's level of education, mother's level of education, father
employment, mother employment, parents relationship, type of work, days off taken, days
off places, and days off spent with.
The trait anxiety was negatively correlated to the age of the child. This mean that as child
grows older, the level of trait anxiety decreases. This may be explained by different ways;
with time the child gets used to his circumstances, and develops mixed feeling of what
exactly are the causes of his anxieties. On the other hand the more realistic and mature
look to the life could change the person s priorities, and shift him to the base of Maslow s
hierarchy of needs. The child's state anxiety was positively correlated to age, this could be
59
explained by the fact that the state anxiety is affected by everyday s events and
expectations, so the children will keep anxious until they fulfill what they are up to.
The trait anxiety is positively associated to the number of the working members in the
family. Having families with multi working members, especially if they were children,
indicates low socioeconomic state of the family. This result is consistent with the study
conducted by Hudson (2005) who stated that the lower the socioeconomic status of an
individual is the higher is his or her risk of mental illness (30).
Parent s level of education, and parents employment status, found to be significantly
associated with the child s level of anxiety; the result is consistent with the results of the
study conducted by Phares, et al (2005), (31), in which they stated that incidence of abuse is
tend to be higher in children of families below the poverty line, and less educated parents
(31)
. Another study conducted in Jordan by Hawamdeh and Spencer (2001), the authors
stated that poverty is common among working children, parental illiteracy and poor
education (13). In a study conducted by Recker (2006), results indicated that father s
earnings have a negative effect on their level of involvement with their children during the
week and have positive effect on weekends. (23)
Children working places, payments, and the child s days off, were significantly associated
with levels of anxiety of children. Children are working at uncontrolled or supervised
environment. Working children are subjects to different kinds of physical health problems
from simple types of injuries like scratches or bruises to serious health problems like
substance abuse, neurotoxicity, anemia, stunting and other kinds of problems, all that
beside being subject to different kinds of abuse (14,32). Working in such hazardous
conditions could explain that association.
Furthermore the results showed that, number of family members, number of working
members in family, family income, perceived parent's relationship, child living with,
60
father's educational level, father's employment status, mother's educational level, mother's
employment status, parent's social status, child's education, child's type of work, salary,
child's days off, places days off spent in, and days off spent with, are predicting anxiety
levels of the child. Looking to these variables we can see that these variables are describing
the child's surrounding environment in home and work, it shows the social, cultural, and
financial status of the child. In planning programs targeting working children these factors
should be considered to make an actual change in the children's lives. Considering that
anxious children will not respond to any change, working on these variables to decrease
the child's anxiety should be the first step in planning and applying any program to this
vulnerable group. Moreover identifying these factors will help in identifying the high risk
group for high levels of anxiety of children, and that will help in targeting these children
before its too late to work on the problem.
5.5.2 Relationship with the Father and Socio-Demographic Variables
Relationship with the father was found to be correlated with family income, perceived
parents relation, social status of parents, type of work, work place, days off, and days off
spent with. the negative correlation between the relationship with the father and family
income, is consistent with the result of the study conducted by Recker et al, (2006), (23),
the results showed that father s earnings have a negative effect on their level of
involvement with their children during the week and on weekends this effect is positive.
Results showed significant correlation between relationship with father and parent s
relationship. This may explained by the fact that children will blame one or both parents on
the bad relationship between them, and usually father will gets most of the blame, because
children will sympathize with the weaker part, considering their fathers to be the stronger
part. On the other hand children will suffer from the consequences of the father- mother
relationship, and this will deprive the children from the normal relationship with the father,
61
as the mother gets the custody of the children in cases of divorce. While many people
believe that the importance and levels of father-child contact only pertains to those whose
families are not intact, research has shown that even in intact families, the level of father-
child engagement decrease from different variables (23).
With today s societal shift from traditional parenting roles, it has become especially
important to understand how the parental-child relationships are changing, and how these
changes are affecting our children and future generations to come. Research has shown
evidence that divorce rates and single mother families have been on the rise (23).
Parents allowing their children to be exposed to the bad working environment, and
associated hazards, could explain the significance association between relationship with
the father and working place, and the work type.
Children friends and places where they spent their time on affecting the child father
relationship. Children at certain age trust the judgment of their friends some times more
than their own; this may justify the significance of the relationship with father and child
days off and Childs days off company.
Results of regression analysis showed that state anxiety is negatively correlated with
number of family members, family income, parent s relation, child living with, and days
off spent with. And state anxiety positively correlated with father education, father work,
child school level, child s work type, work place, Childs payment, and Childs days off.
In regard of trait anxiety regression analysis showed the trait anxiety correlated negatively
with number of family members, parent s relation, and child living with, mother education,
Childs school level, work place, days off, and places child spent days off in. whereas
positively correlated with working members in family, parents social status, fathers
education, fathers work, and days off spent with.
62
Result of regression analysis revealed significant negative correlation between relationship
with the father and father education, mother education, work place, working hours, days
off, and trait anxiety. And positive correlation with number of family members, working
family members, parent s relation, Childs living with, type of work, days off spent with,
and state anxiety.
Furthermore results showed that number of family members, number of working members
in the family, perceived parent's relationship, child's living with, father's educational level,
mother's educational level, child's type of work, child's work place, working hours per day,
child's days off, days off spent with, state anxiety, and trait anxiety, explained most of the
variance in the child's relationship with his father. Improving these variables will improve
the relationship between the child and his father. These predicting variables will help
identifying the type of relationship between the child and his father, knowing that in our
Jordanian culture it will be difficult for the child to show the bad relationship with his
father, and keeping this bad relationship will keep the child away from his father. For the
child to have all these bad feelings will affect his mental wellbeing causing serious social
and behavioral problems. Keeping in mind that child- father relationship significantly
associated with the child's level of anxiety, improving the relationship between the child
and his father will consequently decrease child's level of anxiety. Policy makers, social
workers, governmental and nongovernmental organizations working with children must
consider these factors to improve the child- father relationship, affecting the child's
wellbeing in general.
63
5.6 conclusions
This study explored the demographic profile of working children, level of anxiety, and the
relationship between the relationship with the father, anxiety level, and socio-demographic
profile of working children in the city of Amman.
Working children found to be belonging to poor socioeconomic status, less educated
parents, dropped school at young age to join workforce. The results were consistent with
many national and international studies.
Working children are suffering from moderate and high levels of anxiety, the trait anxiety
was slightly more than the state anxiety, but the overall percent showed the same result for
both state and trait anxiety, which was moderate to high levels. The relationship with the
father found to be positive, although the scores were low for all the subscales that measure
the relationship with the father, but the high score of the first one feeling about the father
pushed the total score to be positive. And the Anxiety level and the relationship with the
father were interrelated.
Children with higher number of family members, higher family income, good parent s
relation, higher mother education, higher school level, good work place, and takes days off,
will have lower levels of anxiety. And children with higher father education, higher mother
education, good work place, takes days off, and higher trait anxiety, will have lower
relationship with their fathers.
5.7 Implications of the Study
5.7.1 In Practice
Health care providers and social workers should increase their knowledge about the child
labor problem and its consequences on the child's physical and mental well being. Planning
and applying programs to fight the child work could be applied in different settings,
schools, primary health centers, using media to target children and parents in homes, and
64
focusing on the high risk groups, identified by described socio-demographic profile.
Planning educational programs explains the child's working hazards on children s
development and health, increasing the awareness of parents and children about the
problem, showing them the difference of the child's quality of life with and without the
child's work, stimulating the child's future aspirations. Primary health nurses have a
continuous contact with the parents of children; they should play an important role in
increasing awareness of the community about the child labor problem.
5.7.2 In Research
Child labor as well as the relationship with the father in Jordan is under estimated in
research, and the actual size of the child labor problem still not clear, future research on
both topics should include:
- Surveying the child labor problem in Jordan is needed to get clear and precise
numbers about the size and prevalence of the child labor.
- Researching causes and consequences of the child labor problem in Jordan is
needed.
- Exploring the relationship with the father from different points of view is needed to
understand its real effect on child's development.
- Replicating the study with a larger sample and in different setting.
- Conducting more research on child labor and associated social, physical, and
psychological problems.
5.8 Recommendations
- Acknowledging policy makers about the child labor problems and it s
consequences on the child's social, psychological, and physical problems.
- Planning rehabilitation programs for working children to help them deal with their
psychological problems.
65
- Planning educational programs targeting school children to increase their
awareness about the long term effects of child labor.
- Planning and applying educational programs targeting the parents and families of
working children.
66
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(2004).
2- Department of Statistics. Poverty in Jordan Report: Poverty in Jordan Report; 2005.
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work: children during economic crisis in Indonesia. Development and change 2005;
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2008/2007.
6- Ministry of labor. National strategy for child labor: report. 2006
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http://www.mol.gov.jo/IndexA.asp?GoTo=Laws
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working in small urban industrial shops. Occup Environ Med 2005; 62:86-94.
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20- Maureen C. Kenny. Mother- Child agreement on self report of anxiety in abused
children. Journal of anxiety disorders 1997; 11:463- 472.
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sexually abused children exhibiting PTSD symptomatology. Behavior therapy
1998; 29:241-255.
22- Jill H. List, Lee M. Wolfle. The effect of father presence in postsecondary
educational attainment among white and black. Research in higher education 2000;
41:623- 636.
23- Ashley Recker. Examining the Father-Child Relationship. Hanover College, winter
2006.
24- Leah East, Debora Jackson, Louise O°ien. Father absence and adolescent
development: a review of the literature. Journal of child health care 2006; 10:283-
295.
25- Office on Child Abuse and Neglect Rosenberg, Wilcox. The Importance of Fathers
in the Healthy Development of Children. 2006.
26- Neil B. Guterman, Yookyung Lee. The role of father in risk of child physical abuse
and neglect: possible pathways and unanswered questions. Child maltreatment
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27- Anthony E. Bogaert. Age at puberty and father absence in a national probability
sample. Journal of adolescent 2005; 28:541-546.
28- Linda J. Pfiffner, Keith Mcburnett, Poul J. Rathouz. Father absence and familial
antisocial characteristics. Journal of abnormal child psychology 2001; 29:357-367.
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female students. Sports: Arts and Science (Arabic). (1995); 7:79-90.
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the Social Causation and Selection Hypotheses. 2005; 75:3-18.
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neurotoxicity in working children in Lebanon. neurotoxicology 2003; 24:733-739.
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32- Vecky Phares, Elena Lopaz, Sherecce Fields, Demetra Komboukos, and Amy M.
Duhig. Are father involved in pediatric psychology research and treatment?.
Pediatric psychology 2005; 30:631- 643.
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70
Appendix A
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
Appendix B
79
THE FATHER PRESENCE QUESTIONNAIRE
Relationship with the Father

Scale: Feelings about the Father
Item Never Seldom Occasionally Frequently Always
I could/can talk with my
father about anything
As a child, I felt warm and
safe when I was with my
father
I felt/feel close to my father
My father is very important to
me
I felt my father was behind
me and supported my choices
or activities
I looked up to my father
I felt/feel inspired by my
father
My father has a special place
in my life and no one can
replace him
I need my father
My father and I enjoyed/enjoy
being together
I want to be like my father
R--When I remember past
experiences with my father, I
feel angry
R--I feel disappointed with
my father
Scale: Mother's Support for Relationship with Father
My mother encouraged me to
talk with my father
My mother was affectionate
with my father
My mother respected my
father's judgment
My mother liked it when my
father and I engaged in
activities together
My mother liked it when my
father touched her
My mother loved my father
very much
My mother appreciated things
my father did for us
I liked the way my mother
talked about my father
My mother really knew my
80
father
My mother wanted me to be
close to my father
My mother had high regard
for and respected my father
R--My mother did not think
very highly of my father
R--My mother was critical of
my father
R-My mother thought my
father was foolish
Scale: Perception of Father's Involvement
My father helped me with
schoolwork when I asked him
My father helped me learn
new things
My father attended my school
functions
My father and I participated in
activities or hobbies together
My father attended my
sporting events or other
activities in which I
participated
I could go to my father for
advice or help with a problem
My father helped me to think
about my future
My father was concerned
about my safety
My father taught me right
from wrong
My father listened to me when
I would talk with him
My father told me that he
loved me
My father understood me
My father encouraged me
R-When I was a child, my
father ignored me
Scale: Physical Relationship with Father
I sat on my father's lap
My father hugged and/or
kissed me
My father let me sit on his
shoulders
My father held me when I was
a baby
My father would hold my
hand or put his arm around me
81
My father tucked me into bed
My father changed my diapers
or bathed me when I was a
baby
I liked being held by my
father
My father would talk with me
when I was a baby
Scale: Father-Mother Relationship
My mother and father really
enjoyed each other's company
My father's and mother's
relationship made me feel
good
My father and mother
supported and helped each
other
I hope that my marriage is just
like my parents' marriage
My father and mother
understood each other
My father and mother were
emotionally close to one
another
My father and mother were
open and honest with one
another
My father listened to my
mother
My father appreciated the
things my mother did for us
R--When I was around my
father and mother at the same
time, my body would feel
tight or in other ways
uncomfortable
R--I wondered why my father
and mother married each other
R--My father and/or mother
disliked each other
R--My mother could not stand
my father
Beliefs about the Father
Scale: Conceptions of God as Father
I believe there is a Father
presence or God who watches
over all life
I pray to or otherwise
commune with God
My religious or spiritual life is
82
important to me
R--I doubt there is a Father
presence who created all life
R--I doubt there is a Father
presence or God who loves
and cares about me
R--Life is an accident and has
no meaning or purpose
R--I have a hard time
believing God can or wants to
help me with my life
Scale: Conceptions of Father's Influence
Girls need their fathers
Boys need their fathers
Fathers affect their sons' and
daughters' relationships with
their friends
daughters' moral values or
behavior
Fathers affect how well or
how poorly their sons and
daughters do in school
daughters' relationships with
the opposite sex
daughters' religious or
spiritual beliefs or behavior
A child's mother and father are
equally important in the
child's life
Intergenerational Family Influences
Scale: Mother's Relationship with Her Father (+ items)
My mother loved her father
very much
My mother felt warm and safe
when she was with her father
My mother and her father
enjoyed being together
My mother felt close to her
father
My mother looked up to her
father
My mother missed her father
when he was away
Scale: Mother's Relationship with Her Father (- items)
My mother felt as though she
did not know her father
My mother's father had a
83
negative influence on her life
My mother was disappointed
with her father
My mother felt tense and "on
guard" when her father was
around
My mother hated her father
My mother was afraid of her
father
Scale: Father's Relationship with His Father
My father loved his father
very much
My father felt warm and safe
when he was with his father
My father and his father
enjoyed being together
My father felt close to his
father
My father could talk with his
father about anything
My father looked up to his
father
My father wanted to be like
his father
My father's father had a
special place in his life and no
one could replace him
R--My father felt has though
he did not know his father
R--When my father
remembered past experiences
with his father, he felt angry
R--My father's father had a
negative influence on his life
R--My father hated his father
My father's relationship with
his father had a big effect on
my life
84
Appendix C
85
86
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SOCIO- DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE, LEVEL OF

ANXIETY, AND RELATIONSHIP WITH THE

Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Committee Member Signature and Date

me and supported me during hard times.

motive for me.

LIST OF APPENDECSES ...............................................................................................ix

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................1

1.1 Background and Significance .....................................................................................1

1.2 Purpose of the Study ...................................................................................................3

1.3 Research Questions .....................................................................................................3

1.4 Operational Definitions of the Variable ......................................................................4

1.5 Study Assumptions .....................................................................................................4

Study limitations ..............................................................................................................4

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................... 6

2.1 Child Labor and Socio- Demographic Profile ............................................................. 6

2.2 Child Labor and Child's Health ................................................................................... 8

2.4 Summery ...................................................................................................................... 13

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY .......................................................................... 15

3.1 Design .......................................................................................................................... 15

3.2 Population and Sample ................................................................................................ 15

3.3 Setting .......................................................................................................................... 16

3.4 Data Collection ............................................................................................................ 16

3.6 Instruments ................................................................................................................... 17

3.6.1 Socio-Demographic Information Part ....................................................................... 17

3.6.2 Father Presence Questionnaire (FPQ) ....................................................................... 18

3.6.3 State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Scale ......................................................................... 19

3.7 Validity and Reliability ................................................................................................ 20

3.8 Data Analysis ............................................................................................................... 21

3.9 Summary ...................................................................................................................... 21

CHAPTER FOUR: THE FINDINGS OF THE STUDY ................................................... 23

4.1 Socio-Demographic profile of working children ......................................................... 23

4.2 State-Trait Anxiety of Participants .............................................................................. 26

4.2.1 State Anxiety of participants ..................................................................................... 26

4.2.2. Trait Anxiety of participants .................................................................................... 27

4.3 Working Children Relationship with the Father ..................................................... 29

4.3.1 Feelings about the Father .......................................................................................... 30

4.3.2 Mother's Support for Relationship with Father ......................................................... 31

4.3.3 Perception of Father's Involvement .......................................................................... 33

4.3.4 Physical Relationship with Father ............................................................................ 34

4.3.5 Father-Mother Relationship ...................................................................................... 36

demographic characteristics of participants ....................................................................... 37

4.7 Summary ...................................................................................................................... 43

5.1 Socio-demographic profile of working children .......................................................... 45

5.2 Level of Anxiety of Working Children ........................................................................ 46

5.3 Relationship with the Father ........................................................................................ 46

5.5 Relationships between Level of Anxiety, Relationship with the Father ,

5.5.1 Anxiety and Socio-Demographic Variables ............................................................. 49

5.5.2 Relationship with the Father and Socio-Demographic Variables ......................... 51

5.6 conclusions .................................................................................................................. 54

5.7 Implications of the Study ............................................................................................. 54

5.8 Recommendations ....................................................................................................... 55

ARABIC ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................... 76

Table Description Page

1 Cronbach s Alpha coefficient value in the pilot 21

2 Mean, Standard Deviation, Frequency and 24

3 means and standard deviation of the state anxiety scale items 26

4 Distribution of Participants According to Levels of State Anxiety 27

5 Means and Standard Deviations of the Trait Anxiety Scale 28

6 Distribution of Participants According to Levels of Trait Anxiety 29

7 Means and Standard Deviations of children Responses 29

8 Distribution of Participants According to 30

9 Means and Standard Deviations of children s responses on the 31

10 Frequencies and Percentages of the Feeling about 31