Health and Occupational Injury Experienced by Latinx Child Farmworkers in North Carolina, USA

Thomas A. Arcury, Taylor J. Arnold, Sara A. Quandt, Haiying Chen, Gregory D. Kearney, Joanne C. Sandberg, Jennifer W. Talton, Melinda F. Wiggins and Stephanie S. Daniel
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Thomas A. Arcury: Department of Family and Community Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA
Taylor J. Arnold: Department of Family and Community Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA
Sara A. Quandt: Department of Epidemiology and Prevention, Division of Public Health Sciences, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA
Haiying Chen: Department of Biostatistics and Data Science, Division of Public Health Sciences, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA
Gregory D. Kearney: Department of Public Health, Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27834, USA
Joanne C. Sandberg: Department of Family and Community Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA
Jennifer W. Talton: Department of Biostatistics and Data Science, Division of Public Health Sciences, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA
Melinda F. Wiggins: Student Action with Farmworkers, Durham, NC 27705, USA
Stephanie S. Daniel: Department of Family and Community Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 17, issue 1, 1-17

Abstract: Children as young as 10 years old are hired to work on farms in the United States (U.S.). These children are largely Latinx. Using interview data collected from 202 North Carolina Latinx child farmworkers in 2017, this analysis documents the heath characteristics and occupational injuries of Latinx child farmworkers and delineates characteristics associated with their health and occupational injuries. Latinx child farmworkers include girls (37.6%) and boys (62.4%), aged 10 to 17 years, with 17.8% being migrant farmworkers. Three-quarters reported receiving medical and dental care in the past year. Respiratory (15.8%) and vision (20.3%) problems were prevalent. Girls more than boys, and younger more than older children had greater health service utilization. Occupational injuries were common, with 26.2% reporting a traumatic injury, 44.1% a dermatological injury, 42.6% a musculoskeletal injury, and 45.5% heat-related illness in the past year. Age increased the odds of reporting work injuries and heat-related illness, and being a non-migrant reduced the odds of reporting work injuries. These results emphasize the need for greater documentation of child farmworker occupational health and safety. They underscore the need to change occupational safety policy to ensure that children working in agriculture have the same protections as those working in all other U.S. industries.

Keywords: child labor; migrant and seasonal farmworkers; occupational health; agricultural health; health disparities; health equity; Latino/Hispanic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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