Child Abuse & Neglect 37 (2013) 283–291 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Child Abuse & Neglect Abuse of working children and influencing factors, Turkey Emine Öncü a,∗ , Ahmet Öner Kurt b , Figen Is ¸ ık Esenay c , Fatma Özer a a Mersin IMKB Anatolian Vocational School of Health, MERS ˙ IN, Turkey b Mersin University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Public Health, MERS ˙ IN, Turkey c Mersin University, Health Faculty, Department of Public Health, MERS ˙ IN, Turkey a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 13 August 2010 Received in revised form 4 May 2012 Accepted 13 November 2012 Available online 9 January 2013 Keywords: Child labor Abuse Neglect Workplace Family a b s t r a c t Objective: The study was planned as the research of the kind/kinds of abuse and the factors influencing the abuse that the children under 18 who are working full-time at a workplace and enrolled in a vocational training center subjected to. Method: Questionnaires were administered to 595 apprentices who were attending a voca- tional training center. Results: It was determined that totally 62.5% of the apprentices are subjected to abuse at their workplaces -21.8% physical, 53.6% emotional and 25.2% sexual-, 100% of them are subjected to physical neglect, and 28.7% of them are subjected to emotional neglect. While being subjected to abuse in the family increases all kinds of abuse; divorced parents, being male, low wage of the apprentice increase the possibility of the physical abuse at a work place; the low family income and the extended working time of the apprentice increase the possibility of sexual abuse. Working conditions and workplace characteristics, evaluated within the context of physical neglect are bad in all apprentices. In all kinds of abuse, employer abuse is higher than other people at work. Conclusion: In spite of their being legally protected in theory, the children who are being employed with labor contracts can not benefit from this protection practically at their workplaces. It is seen that most apprentices are subjected to abuse and neglect. Employment of the children is an area which is open to exploitation. It is necessary to prevent the abuse of working children and workplaces should be constantly inspected. The relation between domestic abuse and workplace abuse demonstrates that families occupy the key point in the vicious circle of violence. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction In spite of the great deal importance attached to childhood all around the world and the endeavors of international organizations, child labor continues to be one of the problems of public health especially in developing countries (Dayio˘ glu, 2006). Due to the global economic crisis, which started in 2007 and intensified in 2008, adult unemployment has been increasing (ILO, 2010). Adult unemployment and the decrease in the family income might not only cause children to be used as economic sources but also lead employers to prefer children since they are cheap labor (Dayio˘ glu, 2006). International Labor Organization (ILO) Global Database on Child Labor Report for 2010 stated that 215 million of 305.7 million children who were performing economic activities in 2008 were employed in jobs that would negatively affect their development. In Turkey, of the 16,264,000 children in 6–17 age group %5 (958,000) are being employed. %2.2 of those attending a school and %26.3 of those not attending a school work in a yielding job (TUIK, 2006). Regarding the excess of ∗ Corresponding author address: Mersin IMKB Anadolu Sa˘ glık Meslek Lisesi 3 Ocak Mah. Cemal Pas ¸ a Caddesi No:1/C/Mersin, TÜRK ˙ IYE. E-mail address: eeoncu@gmail.com (E. Öncü). 0145-2134/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2012.11.006