Social Vulnerability and Influence on Child Development

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate the levels of social vulnerability and how they influenced the child development of students of a municipal school in southwestern Paraná. This is an exploratory field study with a quantitative approach through the application of questionnaires to parents or guardians of students enrolled in the granting institution, aged from 6 to 11 years, 11 months and 29 days, who agreed to participate in the research. The questionnaires used were: the Paraná Family Vulnerability Index, Brazil Economic Classification Criterion anda questionnaire to assess child development, prepared by the researcher. Regarding the statistical analysis, the data were initially submitted to the Bartlett normality test (p-valueof 0.320), and subsequently, the variables of the Brazil Economic Classification Criterionwere subjected to multiple comparison with the Vulnerability Index, using the Tukey test. Regarding the results of the study, it was observed that the predominant economic classeswere B2 and C2 characterized as families with monthly incomes of R$ 4,852.00 and R $1,625.00, respectively, and the social vulnerability index of families was 0.317. These data corroborate the vulnerability of the state of Paraná which, in the last evaluation, presented anindex of 0.252. Regarding child development, there was the absence of milestones in certain domains and association between the lowest level of education of the head of household with the vulnerability index (p-value 0.000). It is also noted the indispensability of public policies that aim to reduce inequalities and social vulnerabilities, significantly improving theliving conditions not only of children, but of the population in general.