PERCEPTIONS OF HOUSEHOLD HEADS ON THE CAUSES OF CHILD POVERTY IN BOIPATONG TOWNSHIP

• Main Authors: Steven H. Dunga, Jabulile L. Makhalima
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Social Sciences Research Society 2016-07-01
• Series: International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanity Studies
• Online Access: http://www.sobiad.org/eJOURNALS/journal_IJSS/arhieves/IJSS2016_2/paper17b_DungaMakhalina.pdf

Children experience poverty within the context of the households they live in.Methodologically and ethically, it is not permissible to ask children what theyperceive to be the cause of their poverty status. The possibility of obtainingincomprehensible data is high if children and minors are included as respondentsin any data collection process. Reliance, therefore, is placed on the adults that areeither guardians or parents of the children to speculate on what they perceive to bethe causes of child poverty. Using data collected from Boipatong Township inGauteng Province, South Africa, a multiple regression is used to determinecharacteristics of the of household associated with the perceptions on causes ofpoverty. The perceptions are divided into the categories common to the traditionalcauses of poverty as pioneered by Feagin, namely fate, structural andindividualistic. The unique twist of the paper, however, is the replacement of theindividual child with the adult responsible for the child. The results show thathousehold income, qualification of the household head and household size weresome of the significant determinants of perceptions of the causes of child poverty.