Original scientific paper
The Characteristics of the Physical Health of Child Returnee-Migrants
Vlasta Đuranović
; Institute for Protection of Mothers and Children, Zagreb, Croatia
Josip Grgurić
; Institute for Protection of Mothers and Children, Zagreb, Croatia
Melita Švob
; Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Already for quite a time labour migration has been one of the important factors in our country (Croatia). In view of the fact that the child is the most sensitive part of the family, it is important to recognise and analyse the effect of migration on the development and growth of children. Hence this paper was written with the desire to describe and illustrate this problem more fully. In order to do so, we examined the physical health of migrant children, returnees from abroad (from the former Federal Republic of Germany), who had lived at least five years in Germany and had returned to the homeland within the last three years. Along with this group (100 children), we studied a control group of children who had never migrated abroad and whose parents were likewise non-migrants. The research was conducted in the schools of the city of Zagreb among children between 10 and 15 years of age. Their parents/guardians were also surveyed with a special questionnaire. Using 14 parameters with which we determined the physical health of children, we found that there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups in regard to nourishment (assessed by the measurement of body height and mass of the pupils), in regard to the onset of puberty, in the frequency of acute and chronic respiratory illness and in the frequency of deficitary illness and TBC. Statistically significant differences were found in the frequency of impaired vision, which was greater in the returnee group (possibly due to better “early screening” in the pre-school and school age period), whereas tooth decay was greater in the control group, as was also “improper” body posture (which may be the effect of overburdening the spine with school bags, incorrect sitting at desks and lesser body activity). There was also a difference in regard to immunisation, which was higher in the control group, which may be linked to the lower level of education of the parents of the migrant children, as is thus a problem of the health culture of their parents. A higher proportion of children were hospitalised in Croatia, whereas the analysis of the specific morbidity showed that returnee children were more often hospitalised due to traffic accidents.
Keywords
physical health; health condition; returnee children
Hrčak ID:
127346
URI
Publication date:
31.12.1991.
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