2003, Number 6
Las investigaciones psicosociales sobre la subsistencia infantil en las calles desarrolladas en el INP durante los últimos 25 años
Gutiérrez R, Vega L
Full text
Language: Spanish
References: 34
Page: 27-34
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ABSTRACT
In the mid 1970’s, a series of psychosocial studies about children and adolescents living on the street was started at the Mexican Center of Addictions (Centro Mexicano de Estudios en Farmacodependencia). These studies have been followed by different research teams for the past 25 years at the National Institute of Psychiatry Ramón de la Fuente.Ever since its beginnings, this research has rendered relevant knowledge about the diversity of situations that endanger the children’s mental health on the streets, as well as of their strategies to face adversities. The information obtained has been very useful to develop intervention programs and to consult, train, and express recommendations to both governmental and non-governmental organizations in charge of caring for childhood ‘on street situation’. The development of this series of studies can be divided into two broad periods.
In the first stage, both qualitative and quantitative research were focused on understanding the problems of child sustenance on the streets. The qualitative studies intended to describe the use of inhalants among children living on the streets. Also, the study observed the children’s social organization, values, and the personal characteristics needed to prevail. To that effect, a group of 23 boys and one girl that slept on the streets was observed. The group was in average 9 years old. It was found that the whole groups sniffed toluene at least 4 days a week. Almost always, their first worry as they woke up was to buy a toluene sample. The subjects in the study also noticed in themselves a higher degree of intoxication when they had to handle sad situations. Finally, it was reported that children organized among themselves to face street difficulties. Furthermore, some children became leaders with the ability to organize the actions needed for the solutions to personal and collective problems.
On the other hand, the qualitative research evaluated the use of inhalants within small samples of street children as well as the factors that encourage it. The study tried to determine the neurological and psychological consequences of inhaling solvents deliberately. In one of these studies, it was found that of 329 subjects (94% male), with an average age of 13.7 years, 27% admitted to sniff daily. The average period of inhalant use was found to be 4.5 years. The general traits associated with the use of inhalants were: male sex, low schooling and school desertion, early start of work, alcohol and/or drug consumption of mother, siblings, and friends, low or null contact with family, and migration from rural areas.
In the second research stage, the development of studies on inhalant abuse of ‘street children’ was continued. The quantitative studies examined larger samples of street children in 100 cities across the country and in the Federal District. In this respect, in the Federal District report it is noted that alcohol and tobacco are the most commonly abused substances by working minors: 26 % of men and 14% of women reported smoking. The most frequently used illegal drugs were inhalants, followed by marijuana and cocaine and to a lesser extent psychotropic pills. The most important factor linked to drug use was the minor’s occupation. It was observed that minors working as packers had low indexes of consumption of illegal drugs (2.4% of those aged between 12 and 17 years has used drugs). Those minors working in public areas had higher consumption rates (8.1%), and a considerably higher rate was found among minors living on the streets (76%).
In this period, the qualitative studies were dramatically increased. These studies started to pay much more attention to the street children’s views and opinions. This research also tried to focus on other problems of life in the streets like police violence and child prostitution. Moreover, we started identifying the protective factors that help children face the difficulties of sustenance on the streets.
In this second stage, a new study was developed in order to understand the situation of the female adolescent inhalers on the street. It is worth noticing that this group of subjects had not had a central role in our previous research. The research tried to get to know, from their own point of view, situations such as: the way they experience solvent sniffing; their sexual practices, pregnancy and delivery; self-attention and institutional support. The results obtained show that the so called ‘street girls’ experience the use of inhalants as a habit. They manifested that they frequently have unprotected sexual practices, unplanned pregnancies, violence prior to abortions, risky deliveries, etc. All this phenomena become extremely complex, hence forcing these young women to experience them as something contradictory, confusing, mysterious, ambivalent, fatal, and paradoxical. The research shows that the female adolescents ‘of the street’ do not relate these experiences to the problems pertaining to the Mexican social structure, such as the low emphasis on family planning among adolescents, the lack of orientation and sensitivity towards young pregnant women on matters such as prenatal medical attention, the absence of programs geared toward adolescence abusing substances, etc.
We conclude that it would be highly beneficial that any new research be focused on the children’s perspective. Therefore, more attention should be paid to the children’s experiences and strategies to face adversity. This would enable us to identify matters that are important for the children themselves. For instance, this approach would not only be helpful to identify particular aspects that endanger the children’s mental health, but also those characteristics that enable the child to face risk situations. Furthermore, the concepts of risk and resilience could provide a thorough understanding of the children ‘on street situation’. Hence, it is quite necessary to look beyond the risk variables and turn to the search of comparative and longitudinal information about the ‘street career’ followed by these children.
REFERENCES