Social and Health Status and Educational Achievement of Adolescents in Egypt (ASCE) (1998)
 

Description
In the Social and Health Status and Educational Achievement of Adolescents in Egypt (ASCE) survey, 9128 adolescents were interviewed in 21 of the 26 governorates of Egypt between March and August 1997. Topics included prevalence of working children, educational status, and job satisfaction.
 

Collaborating institutions
The Social Research Center of the American University in Cairo, the Regional Office for West Asia and North Africa of the Population Council, High Institute for Public Health of the University of Alexandria, and the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine of Assiut University
 

Sponsor
 Population Council
 

Related Publications
 The school environment in Egypt : a situation analysis of public preparatory schools.  By Sahar El Tawila... et al. New York: The Population Council, 2000.

Transitions to adulthood : a national survey of Egyptian adolescents. By Barbara Ibrahim, Sahar El Tawila... et al. Cairo: Population Council, 2000.

 Youth in the population agenda: concepts and methodologies. By Sahar El Tawila. Cairo: Population Council, West Asia and North Africa, 2000.
 

Contact person
Sahar El Tawila
 

Objectives of the Study
To compile a national profile of the situation of adolescents (10-19 years old) in Egypt with regard to:

  • Educational attainment prevalence and context of their economic participation.
  • Health status and dietary practices.
  • Gender-roles attitudes concerning some reproductive health issues, task-sharing and decision-making among spouse and reasons justifying seeking divorce.


Sample Design and Implementation
The survey sample is a nationally representative, multistage, stratified, probability cluster sample of adolescents. In the first stage, 101 primary sampling units (PSUs) were selected proportional to population size using the updated census frame compiled by the Central Agency for public Mobilization and statistics. Only the five frontier governorates were excluded from the study, as only about 1.5 percent of the total population of Egypt lives in these five governorates.

The PSUs were stratified by 21 governorates and by urban /rural location within each governorate.

The total sample size was 13,271 households. All these households were screened using a household roster sheet .

Eligible households were then defined as households with at least one member in the age range 10-19 years. The number of eligible households amounts to 7,256. Using the Kish grid, one adolescent (by gender)was randomly selected from each eligible household. This resulted in one boy and one girl being selected from households that contained at least adolescent of each gender. A total of 9,128 adolescents were successfully interviewed (4, 354 boys and 4,774 girls). The number of pairs of siblings successfully interviewed was 2,413. All randomly selected adolescents were eligible for an individual interview using a core instrument. The sample of adolescents is not self-weighted.

Data Collection
Data collection and implementation of the health component of the survey extended for five months (mid-March to mid-August 1997). The long duration of the fieldwork enriched the sample results by covering part of the academic year as well as the school holiday and ranging over two seasons (spring and summer). As a result, findings related to employment, time use, and nutritional intake average the experience of adolescents rather than restricting them to a particular season.
 

Summary of Findings
(1) Prevalence of child labor

Distribution of households with and without working children (6-14 yrs)

  Count Percent
Have no working children 11639 87.7
Have working child or children 1632 12.3
Total no. of households in the sample 13271 100.0
Source: Data from Social and Health Status and Educational Achievement of Adolescents in Egypt Survey (ASCE) (1998) 

 

Distribution of households with and without working children (10-14 yrs)

  Count Percent
Have no working children 11754 88.6
Have working child or children 1517 11.4
Total no. of households in the survey 13271 100.0
Source: Data from Social and Health Status and Educational Achievement of Adolescents in Egypt Survey (ASCE) (1998) 

 

Distribution of children (6-14 yrs) by work status
  Count Percent
Working 2286 14.7
Not working 13240 85.3
Total no. of children in the sample 15526 100.0
Source: Data from Social and Health Status and Educational Achievement of Adolescents in Egypt Survey (ASCE) (1998) 

 

Distribution of children (10-14 years) by work status
  Count Percent
Working 1915 21.9
Not working 6843 78.1
Total no. of children in the sample 8758 100.0
Source: Data from Social and Health Status and Educational Achievement of Adolescents in Egypt Survey (ASCE) (1998)

 

Estimated number of working children (6-14 yrs) and their distribution by sex
  No. of working children Percent
Male 500,000 29
Female 1,200,000 71
Total no. of working children 1,700,000 100
Source: Data from Social and Health Status and Educational Achievement of Adolescents in Egypt Survey (ASCE) (1998)

 

Estimated distribution of working children (6-14 yrs) by location
  No. of working children Percent
Urban 275,000 16
Rural 1,400,000 84
Total no. of working children 1,700,000 100
Source: Data from Social and Health Status and Educational Achievement of Adolescents in Egypt Survey (ASCE) (1998)

 

Prevalence of working children (10-14 yrs) by location, employment status, and sex
  Unpaid Paid Not working Total
M F M F M F M F
Urban 10.5 3.6 13.5 1.0 76.0 95.4 100.0 100.0
Rural 38.5 20.5 11.8 4.1 49.7 75.4 100.0 100.0
Source: Data from Social and Health Status and Educational Achievement of Adolescents in Egypt Survey (ASCE) (1998)

 

Prevalence of working children (6-14 yrs) by location, employment status, and sex
  Unpaid