Context 1
Country: South Africa
Establishing the diverse meanings of different types of factual information about children’s living situations proved complex, among such a diverse range of countries with differing social and cultural norms. As an example, we found that in South Africa, an unusually large number of children reported living in households with more than two adults in paid work. The presence of multiple adults in paid work has been used in western studies to indicate higher socio-economic status, but in these situations it is unusual for children to be living in households with more than two adults. In contrast, in South Africa the presence of more than two adults in a child’s household is not unusual, especially in lower-income areas. This can have multiple causes, including the need to pool resources among larger households to meet needs through economies of scale; family breakdown leading to parents moving in with their own parents; poverty among older people leading to them moving in with grandchildren; and housing shortages which result in extended families living together. However, in low income communities, these jobs are either low paying semi-permanent, part-time, or located in the informal sector. Additionally, cultural influences impact household structure. The traditional black South African concept of ubuntu denotes a sense of community, incorporating communal responsibility for child rearing, which can be helpful in understanding that wider communities and networks may form part of a child’s household. That is, the notion of family and ‘normal’ household structure varies markedly among participating countries, and the ‘nuclear family’ incorporating parents and dependent children is a western concept which cannot necessarily be applied to non-western contexts.