Childhood is a critical period of the life of human beings, and experiencing poverty at this stage can seriously hinder children’s development. A reliable measure of child poverty is the essential prerequisite for monitoring children’s living situations and for providing government with sound evidence for policy making. Despite the importance of the issue of child poverty, to date there has been no effective measure of child poverty in urban China. This study is an effort to fill this gap. In contrast to the conventional income-based approach to poverty, the deprivation approach initiated by Peter Townsend in the 1970s is able to offer a direct, non-monetary, and multidimensional lens through which to examine child poverty. On the basis of international definition of child poverty and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, in this current study the author constructed a child poverty measure — Child Deprivation Indicators (CDIs) — in China’s urban context. A quantitative approach was used and a survey called Child Poverty in Urban China was carried out in Beijing from October 2011 to March 2012. Employing a multistage sampling method, 1,000 households with children were selected to participate in the survey, and the response rate was 91%. After a process of indicator selection, survey, and threshold setting, 34 indicators covering six dimensions of children’s basic needs were chosen to constitute the CDIs. The six dimensions are diet, clothing, housing conditions, household facilities, education, and social interaction. Children lacking five or more indicators because of economic constraint would be identified as being deprived. According to the study findings, 12.7% of children were living in deprivation at the time of survey. The 34 items showed differing degrees of deprivation, ranging from 0.4% to 14.0%. Education and social interaction were the two dimensions demonstrating the widest deprivation. Significant and considerable differences were found between local and migrant children both in terms of deprivation rate and severity. Migrant children are seriously disadvantaged compared with their urban peers but they are not entitled to social assistance in cities. To further examine the newly constructed child poverty measure, the author compared the CDIs with two conventional poverty measures which are based on social assistance recipient status and on family income. Findings showed that they identified different groups of poor children with moderate degrees of overlap. In spite of this, the deprivation severities of children receiving social assistance or living in low-income families were significantly higher than those of non-recipient children and children from normal-income families, implying that these three different child poverty measures are closely related to each other. Several suggestions were generated to inform policy making and practice. First, government should raise the standards of social assistance and introduce child-specific assistance programmes. Second, migrant children should be treated equally to urban children and be entitled to social assistance. Third, in practice different child poverty measures should be utilized in conjunction with each other. Finally, with minor adjustments the CDIs can be utilized in other cities. / published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Background: The problem of poverty in Hong Kong is worsening, particularly the disparity between the rich and poor. Although much of the public concern about this problem has concentrated on the physical development of children, the effect of disparity between the rich and poor on their psychological well-being remains relatively underexplored. A review of the literature revealed that most studies on the psychological effect of disparity between the rich and poor have been conducted in Western countries only. This study aimed to bridge this gap. Its objectives were (1) to compare the self-esteem, depressive symptoms and quality of life (QoL) of children from low- and high-income families, (2) to identify the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics affecting the psychological well-being of children, (3) to compare the livelihoods of children from low- and high-income families, and (4) to examine the effectiveness of adventure-based programme in promoting the psychological well-being of children living in poverty. Methods: This study consisted of a survey study and a pilot RCT. The survey study was conducted in 12 primary schools from the three highest and the three lowest median household income districts. A total of 1,725 children were recruited, with 898 from low-income families and 827 from high-income families. The self-esteem, depressive symptoms and QoL of them were assessed and compared. Additional 42 children were chosen to have semi-structured interviews. As for the pilot RCT, it was conducted in two primary schools in Kwai Chung Estate. A total of 120 children were recruited, of whom 56 were randomly assigned to the experimental group to receive adventure-based programme and 64 to the control group to have placebo programme. Results: For the survey study, the results showed that the children from low-income families scored significantly lower on self-esteem and QoL, and higher on depressive symptoms than the children from high-income families. Moreover, the disparity between the rich and poor was found to have the greatest impact on children's self-esteem. Regression analyses showed that housing type made the largest contribution to children's self-esteem, depressive symptoms and QoL. Additionally, the daily lives of children from low-income families were seriously affected in terms of living environment, physical health, social lives and ability to function at school. Concerning the pilot RCT, mixed between-within subjects ANOVA showed that the children in experimental group scored significantly lower on depressive symptoms and higher self-esteem than those in control group. However, such a significant effect was not found on QoL. Conclusion: The survey study provides further evidence that disparity between the rich and poor has a negative effect on children's psychological well-being. Additionally, the pilot RCT demonstrated the effectiveness of adventure-based programme in promoting the psychological well-being of children living in poverty. Implications for practice: It is vital for healthcare professionals to develop and implement appropriate interventions that promote the psychological well-being of this vulnerable group. Moreover, healthcare professionals should go beyond their normal roles to build multidisciplinary partnerships with schools and the community to promote psychological well-being among children living in poverty. / published_or_final_version / Nursing Studies / Master / Master of Philosophy

Child poverty is a troubling issue over the world. Many scholars and professionals have devoted themselves to alleviating and eliminating child poverty. However, hundreds of millions of children in the world are still suffering from poverty. In China, poverty is a serious social problem. Chinese government did intervene heavily in poverty alleviation in the last decades. But so far, compared to other social problems, the scholars and policy-makers in China have paid less attention to the issue of child poverty. In light of these developments, this study, based on a children's right perspective, sets out to identify the basic characteristics of urban child poverty as well as the basic needs of poor children. Further, it gauges urban poverty's social, economic and psychological impacts on the children and effects of current social policies. Qualitative methodology, including in-depth interviews and focus group methods, is adopted in this study. Some 19 poor families were interviewed in 2006-2007. / The main findings of this research are as follows: (1) There is no access to health insurance which threatens poor urban children's survival and health; (2) Educational fees, especially expensive compulsory education, compromise the right of development on the basic of equal opportunity. In addition, the existence of key schools and classes gives rise to educational stratification; (3) Basic rights of survival, development and protection of poor urban children are satisfied to a certain extent, but the right of participation is overlooked; (4) Poor families take on too much burden to realize children's rights and needs. Although the government provides some assistance, current social policies have many problems to meet the basic needs and they could not satisfy the child rights due to absence of and ineffective policies, strategies and social services; (5) Support from families, especially from grandparents, is indispensable for children's needs and rights. / This research reviews international experiences to draw attention in China to child poverty as well as to family and adult poverty, which will be helpful to future studies on this issue. We believe the Convention on the Rights of the Child is a basic policy framework to guide the implementation of children's rights and government obligations in China. Actually, the Chinese government should take a more positive attitude towards child poverty. More children's living and developmental indices should be collated and added in national statistics and more studies on child poverty should be encouraged. Universal and low-charge public social services, including education, health, social work and other basic welfare services, should be provided. Safety net and incentive employment policy should be implemented to secure poor people and stimulate them to get rid of poverty by employment. In brief, as a state party of The Convention on the Rights of the Child, Chinese government should work out more concrete policies and strategies to show respect to children's rights, and children's rights can be adopted as Chinese child policy model in the future. / 姜妙屹. / Adviser: Kwong-Leung Tang. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-09, Section: A, page: . / Thesis (doctoral)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 350-392). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / School code: 1307. / Jiang Miaoyi.