INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITY STUDIES Vol 8, No 2, 2016 ISSN: 1309-8063 (Online) PERCEPTIONS OF HOUSEHOLD HEADS ON THE CAUSES OF CHILD POVERTY IN BOIPATONG TOWNSHIP Steven H. Dunga North-West University (Vaal Campus), South Africa E-mail:[email protected] Jabulile L. Makhalima North-West University, South Africa E-mail: [email protected] -Abstract- Children experience poverty within the context of the households they live in. Methodologically and ethically, it is not permissible to ask children what they perceive to be the cause of their poverty status. The possibility of obtaining incomprehensible data is high if children and minors are included as respondents in any data collection process. Reliance, therefore, is placed on the adults that are either guardians or parents of the children to speculate on what they perceive to be the causes of child poverty. Using data collected from Boipatong Township in Gauteng Province, South Africa, a multiple regression is used to determine characteristics of the of household associated with the perceptions on causes of poverty. The perceptions are divided into the categories common to the traditional causes of poverty as pioneered by Feagin, namely fate, structural and individualistic. The unique twist of the paper, however, is the replacement of the individual child with the adult responsible for the child. The results show that household income, qualification of the household head and household size were some of the significant determinants of perceptions of the causes of child poverty. Key Words: Child poverty, perceptions, households, multiple regression, individualistic, structural, fatalistic JEL classification: A10, A13. 18 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITY STUDIES Vol 8, No 2, 2016 ISSN: 1309-8063 (Online) 1. INTRODUCTION Consensus exists in the view that children are the most vulnerable group of people to poverty, food insecurity, HIV and Aids among other challenges plaguing the planet (Drimie & Casale, 2008; McKendrick et al., 2007; UNICEF, 2005). The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF, 2005) argues that the elements that differentiate child poverty from general poverty often are overlooked and neglected. Poverty in children is a derived situation as it is passed on or inherited from the parents or those that bear responsibility over them. Child poverty, as a concept, has certain factors that are attributable to it and should rather be differentiated from the more general attributes of poverty such as lack of income, shelter, clothing and the like (Makhalima, 2016). Children experience poverty within the context of the households they live in. Methodologically and ethically, it is not permissible to ask children what they perceive to be the cause of their poverty status. One could even obtain incomprehensible data if children and minors were involved in a data collection process. Therefore, reliance is placed on the adults that are guardians or parents of the children to speculate on what they perceive to be the cause/s of child poverty. The literature on the perceptions of the causes of poverty identifies three main perceived causes of poverty as pioneered by Feagin (1972), namely individualistic, structural and fate. Previous studies conducted on the perceptions of poverty have concentrated on the perceptions of poverty in general and not perceptions of child poverty (Grobler & Dunga, 2014; Maseko et al. 2015;). Few studies have looked at the perceptions of child poverty (Weinger 1998). The unique twist of this paper, however, is the replacement of the individual child with the adult responsible for the child. The view that a child has no control of his or her own circumstances exacerbates the vulnerability. The situation can become worse for the child if the guardian does not realise the responsibility that lies with the interconnections of his/her own situation to that of the child. The issue of child poverty is also essential and pertinently so due to the consequences associated with the situation, which in most cases may affect a child’s adult life. The aim of this paper is to investigate perceptions of household heads in Boipatong Township on the causes of child poverty. The paper progresses as follows; the next section will discuss the literature on child poverty and the causes 19 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITY STUDIES Vol 8, No 2, 2016 ISSN: 1309-8063 (Online) of poverty in general. Thereafter, the data collection method and the statistical model used in the data analysis are presented. This is succeeded by a presentation of the results and discussion. The final section of the paper outlines conclusions drawn from the results. However, the results of the study as well as the conclusions can only be generalised with caution since different areas have varied idiosyncrasies. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ON THE PERCEPTIONS OF POVERTY 2.1 Conceptualisation of poverty Poverty is an unsettling phenomenon worldwide, particularly for the young who have neither contribution nor control over their circumstances as they depend on their parents for their livelihood. Children living in poor households are vulnerable to the scourge along with its consequences (Brooks-Gunn & Duncan, 1997). According to Minujin and Nandy (2012:58), the 1997 United Nations World Summit’s definitions on absolute and overall poverty are considered the only generally accepted definitions of poverty. In that context, absolute poverty is defined as “a condition characterised by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information”. It can be emphasised in this definition that poverty depends not only on the income of the individual or household, but also on access to social services and on needs far separated from income. This poverty is, therefore, as a result of both household level deprivation and societal level absence of services like health and education. Overall poverty is defined as the lack of income and productive resources to ensure sustainable livelihoods, prevention of hunger, malnutrition and ill health, limited or lack of access to education and other basic services. Poverty in this sense is associated with increased morbidity and mortality from illness, homelessness, inadequate housing, unsafe environments, social discrimination and exclusion (Gordon, 2005:3). The absolute definition of poverty is more inclined to basic needs and hence is easy to understand and it can be applied in an effort to compare people of different contexts. The general definition can suffer from contextual differences as basic needs or necessities may vary by context. 20 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITY STUDIES Vol 8, No 2, 2016 ISSN: 1309-8063 (Online) 2.2 Child poverty Turning the spotlight on the child poverty phenomena does not necessarily mean that other aspects contributing to poverty, such as lack of sufficient employment in the job market, political risks, violence and lack of assets, are less important. These issues also affect children as much as they have an effect on the rest of the household. However, it is necessary to emphasise that child poverty differs from adult poverty and it is important to address the differences between child and adult poverty so as to make informed decisions about how to alleviate it. Therefore, the concept of child poverty has to be defined clearly and the causes and consequences identified (Boyden, et al. 2005:2). According to Saidov (2007:25), child poverty is the lack of access to social services such as a safe environment for a child to play. This definition further illustrates that children experience poverty physically, intellectually and emotionally. For instance, lack of proper nutrition leads to malnutrition and poor academic performance. Magnuson and Votruba-Drzal (2009) contend that children living in poor households are likely to have low educational outcomes and are more likely to drop out of school when compared to children from non- poor households. Such children may also have a higher likelihood of struggling to relate with their peers and they are often aggressive. The Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre (CHIP) (2004) explains that childhood poverty means that children and young people grow up without access to different types of resources that are vital for their well-being and for them to fulfil their potential. Such resources may be of an economic, social, cultural, physical, environmental and political nature. Gordon et al (2003:6) further argues that insufficient investment in social services such as education and healthcare facilities is likely to exacerbate child poverty. Minujin et al (2005) and UNICEF (2007:1) argue that one of the conventional approaches to measuring poverty, the monetary approach, does not fit in with the scope of measuring child poverty. This is because the monetary approach does not pay heed to the structure of households, gender and the ages of household members. The monetary approach is also oblivious to the view that the needs of a child differ to those of the adults in the household, particularly basic social services that are pertinent to a child’s wellbeing. Minujin et al (2006) further argue that an increase in income levels within a household does not necessarily 21 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITY STUDIES Vol 8, No 2, 2016 ISSN: 1309-8063 (Online) ascertain that vulnerable groups are guaranteed a portion of the increase in income. The benefits of this increase may be unevenly spread. A multidimensional measure of child poverty is one that examines the different elements of a child’s experience. The multidimensional measure of child poverty serves to be a useful measure of child poverty as it considers the non-monetary aspects that may cause child poverty. This measure goes far beyond the income variable to emphasise the effect of other dimensions such as current poverty and life chances as other measures of poverty (UK Government, 2012:15).