Abstract

The Young Lives survey is an innovative long-term project investigating the changing nature of childhood poverty in four developing countries. The purpose of the project is to improve understanding of the causes and consequences of childhood poverty and examine how policies affect children's well-being, in order to inform the development of future policy and to target child welfare interventions more effectively. The study is being conducted in Ethiopia, India (in Andhra Pradesh), Peru and Vietnam. These countries were selected because they reflect a range of cultural, geographical and social contexts and experience differing issues facing the developing world; high debt burden, emergence from conflict, and vulnerability to environmental conditions such as drought and flood.

The Young Lives study aims to track the lives of 12,000 children over a 15-year period, surveyed once every 3-4 years. Round 1 of Young Lives surveyed two groups of children in each country, at 1 year old and 5 years old. Round 2 returned to the same children who were then aged 5 and 12 years old. Round 3 surveyed the same children again at aged 7-8 years and 14-15 years, and Round 4 surveyed them at 12 and 19 years old. Thus the younger children are being tracked from infancy to their mid-teens and the older children through into adulthood, when some will become parents themselves.

The survey consists of three main elements: a child questionnaire, a household questionnaire and a community questionnaire. The household data gathered is similar to other cross-sectional datasets (such as the World Bank's Living Standards Measurement Study). It covers a range of topics such as household composition, livelihood and assets, household expenditure, child health and access to basic services, and education. This is supplemented with additional questions that cover caregiver perceptions, attitudes, and aspirations for their child and the family. Young Lives also collects detailed time-use data for all family members, information about the child's weight and height (and that of caregivers), and tests the children for school outcomes (language comprehension and mathematics). An important element of the survey asks the children about their daily activities, their experiences and attitudes to work and school, their likes and dislikes, how they feel they are treated by other people, and their hopes and aspirations for the future. The community questionnaire provides background information about the social, economic and environmental context of each community. It covers topics such as ethnicity, religion, economic activity and employment, infrastructure and services, political representation and community networks, crime and environmental changes. The Young Lives survey is carried out by teams of local researchers, supported by the Principal Investigator and Data Manager in each country.

Further information about the survey, including publications, can be downloaded from the Young Lives website.

School surveys were introduced into Young Lives in 2010 in order to capture detailed information about children’s experiences of schooling, and to improve our understanding of: - the relationships between learning outcomes, and children's home backgrounds, gender, work, schools, teachers and class and school peer-groups. - school effectiveness, by analysing factors explaining the development of cognitive and non-cognitive skills in school, including value-added analysis of schooling and comparative analysis of school-systems. - equity issues (including gender) in relation to learning outcomes and the evolution of inequalities within education

The survey allows us to link longitudinal information on household and child characteristics from the household survey with data on the schools attended by the Young Lives children and children's achievements inside and outside the school. It provides policy-relevant information on the relationship between child development (and its determinants) and children’s experience of school, including access, quality and progression. This combination of household, child and school-level data over time constitutes the comparative advantage of Young Lives. Findings are all available on our Education theme pages and our publications page. Further information is available from the Young Lives http://www.younglives.org.uk/content/school-survey-0" title="School Survey">School Survey webpages.

Geographic coverage

The Young Lives study traced the lives of 3,000 children in 20 sentinel sites located in five regions of the country (Addis Ababa, Amhara, Oromia, SNNP and Tigray). The second school survey extended beyond the 20 Young Lives sites to include ten newly selected sites in the developing regions of Somali and Afar, where historically poor access to and participation in services, including education, is of particular concern to government, donors and NGOs.

Analysis unit

Individuals Institutions/organisations

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Multi-stage stratified random sample

The final sample included 94 ‘schools’ and 280 classes (142 Grade 4 and 134 Grade 5) making a sample size of 13,724. The majority of surveyed schools are government-owned (75 out of 94), but 19 nongovernment-owned schools were also surveyed in sites in Addis Ababa, SNNP and Somali regions.

The second school survey in Ethiopia sampled all pupils (including both Young Lives Younger Cohort children and non-Young Lives children) studying in all Grade 4 and Grade 5 classes in all schools located within the geographic boundaries of each survey sentinel site. The survey therefore constitutes a site-level census of all Grade 4 and 5 pupils attending school within the geographic boundaries of the 30 sentinel sites.

The survey was conducted at both the beginning (Wave 1) and end (Wave 2) of the school year. At Wave 1, the pupil-level sample included all pupils present on the first day of the survey visit to the school. These pupils were then followed up at Wave 2, without replacement of absent pupils.

The twenty main Young Lives sites (in the regions of Addis Ababa, Amhara, Oromia, SNNP and Tigray) were selected purposely in 2001 to ensure that the household survey reflected the cultural and geographic diversity of the country, including urban-rural differences, but with a pro-poor bias and a focus on areas with food insecurity (see Outes-Leon and Sanchez 2008 for further details). Between three and five sites were selected in each region to represent diversity across zones and ethnicities. The ten new sites in Somali and Afar were selected according to the same criteria as in the household survey, but with additional considerations for fieldworker safety and security.

While not statistically representative at the national or regional levels, the survey includes a range of community settings illustrative of the diversity of the country. Appendix 1 of the survey report (provided under related materials) provides a description of the 30 school-survey sites.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face interview; Self-completion; Educational measurements; Observation

Research instrument

The instruments included in the survey are:

• Principal questionnaire: Administered individually by fieldworkers to principals.
• School site observation: Fieldworker completed through observation of school site during their time in the school.
• Teacher questionnaire: Administered individually by fieldworkers to teacher of YL child's class.
• Pupil questionnaire: Administered to the whole class. Fieldworker led and directed. Collected background data on the Pupil, as well as information on attitudes to school.
• Pupil assessments in Maths and Amharic: Administered to the whole class. Fieldworker led and directed.

Survey documentation and questionnaires are provided as related materials, and can also be downloaded from http://www.younglives.org.uk/content/ethiopia-school-survey

The Young Lives survey is an innovative long-term project investigating the changing nature of childhood poverty in four developing countries. The purpose of the project is to improve understanding of the causes and consequences of childhood poverty and examine how policies affect children's well-being, in order to inform the development of future policy and to target child welfare interventions more effectively. The study is being conducted in Ethiopia, India (in Andhra Pradesh), Peru and Vietnam. These countries were selected because they reflect a range of cultural, geographical and social contexts and experience differing issues facing the developing world; high debt burden, emergence from conflict, and vulnerability to environmental conditions such as drought and flood. The Young Lives study aims to track the lives of 12,000 children over a 15-year period, surveyed once every 3-4 years. Round 1 of Young Lives surveyed two groups of children in each country, at 1 year old and 5 years old. Round 2 returned to the same children who were then aged 5 and 12 years old. Round 3 surveyed the same children again at aged 7-8 years and 14-15 years, and Round 4 surveyed them at 12 and 19 years old. Thus the younger children are being tracked from infancy to their mid-teens and the older children through into adulthood, when some will become parents themselves. The survey consists of three main elements: a child questionnaire, a household questionnaire and a community questionnaire. The household data gathered is similar to other cross-sectional datasets (such as the World Bank's Living Standards Measurement Study). It covers a range of topics such as household composition, livelihood and assets, household expenditure, child health and access to basic services, and education. This is supplemented with additional questions that cover caregiver perceptions, attitudes, and aspirations for their child and the family. Young Lives also collects detailed time-use data for all family members, information about the child's weight and height (and that of caregivers), and tests the children for school outcomes (language comprehension and mathematics). An important element of the survey asks the children about their daily activities, their experiences and attitudes to work and school, their likes and dislikes, how they feel they are treated by other people, and their hopes and aspirations for the future. The community questionnaire provides background information about the social, economic and environmental context of each community. It covers topics such as ethnicity, religion, economic activity and employment, infrastructure and services, political representation and community networks, crime and environmental changes. The Young Lives survey is carried out by teams of local researchers, supported by the Principal Investigator and Data Manager in each country. Further information about the survey, including publications, can be downloaded from the a href="http://www.younglives.org.uk/content/school-survey-0" title="School Survey" School Survey /a webpages.

Abstract

Young Lives: An International Study of Childhood Poverty is a collaborative project investigating the changing nature of childhood poverty in selected developing countries. The UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) is funding the first three-year phase of the project.

Young Lives involves collaboration between Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and the academic sector. In the UK, the project is being run by Save the Children-UK together with an academic consortium that comprises the University of Reading, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, South Bank University, the Institute of Development Studies at Sussex University and the South African Medical Research Council.

The study is being conducted in Ethiopia, India (in Andhra Pradesh), Peru and Vietnam. These countries were selected because they reflect a range of cultural, geographical and social contexts and experience differing issues facing the developing world; high debt burden, emergence from conflict, and vulnerability to environmental conditions such as drought and flood.

Objectives of the study The Young Lives study has three broad objectives: • producing good quality panel data about the changing nature of the lives of children in poverty. • trace linkages between key policy changes and child poverty • informing and responding to the needs of policy makers, planners and other stakeholders There will also be a strong education and media element, both in the countries where the project takes place, and in the UK.

The study takes a broad approach to child poverty, exploring not only household economic indicators such as assets and wealth, but also child centred poverty measures such as the child’s physical and mental health, growth, development and education. These child centred measures are age specific so the information collected by the study will change as the children get older.

Further information about the survey, including publications, can be downloaded from the Young Lives website.

Geographic coverage

Young Lives is an international study of childhood poverty, involving 12,000 children in 4 countries. - Ethiopia (20 communities in Addis Ababa, Amhara, Oromia, and Southern National, Nationalities and People's Regions) - India (20 sites across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana) - Peru (74 communities across Peru) - Vietnam (20 communities in the communes of Lao Cai in the north-west, Hung Yen province in the Red River Delta, the city of Danang on the coast, Phu Yen province from the South Central Coast and Ben Tre province on the Mekong River Delta)

Analysis unit

Individuals; Families/households

Universe

Cross-national; Subnational

Children aged approximately 5 years old and their households, and children aged 12 years old and their households, in Ethiopia, India (Andhra Pradesh), Peru and Vietnam, in 2006-2007. These children were originally interviewed in Round 1 of the study. See documentation for details of the exact regions covered in each country.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Purposive selection/case studies

Sampling deviation

Ethiopia: 1,886 (8-year-olds), 974 (15-year-olds); India: 1,930 (8-year-olds), 977 (15-year-olds); Peru: 1,946 (8-year-olds), 678 (15-year-olds); Vietnam: 1,963 (8-year-olds), 972 (15-year-olds)

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face interview; Self-completion

Research instrument

Every questionnaire used in the study consists of a 'core' element and a country-specific element, which focuses on issues important for that country.

The core element of the questionnaires consists of the following sections: Core 5 & 12 year old household questionnaire • Section 1: Parental background • Section 2: Household education • Section 3: Livelihoods and asset framework • Section 3a: Land & crops • Section 3b: Time allocation • Section 3c: Productive assets • Section 3d: Non-agricultural earnings • Section 3e: Transfers • Section 4: Consumption/Expenditure • Section 4a: Food consumption/expenditure • Section 4b: Non-food consumption/expenditure • Section 5: Social capital • Section 5a: Support networks • Section 5b: Family, group and political capital • Section 5c: Collective action and exclusion • Section 5d: Information networks • Section 6: Economic changes and recent life history • Section 7: Socio-economic status • Section 8: Child care, education & activities (blank in 12yr old household) • Section 9: Child health • Section 10: Child development (blank in 12yr old household) • Section 11: Anthropometry • Section 12: Caregiver perceptions & attitudes

Core 12 year old child questionnaire • Section 1: School and activities • Section 2: Child health • Section 3: Social networks, social skills and social support • Section 4: Feelings and attitudes • Section 5: Parents and household issues • Section 6: Perceptions of household wealth and future • Section 7: Child Development

The community questionnaire used in Ethiopia consists of the following sections: - MODULE 1 General Module • Section 1 General Community Characteristics • Section 2 Social Environment • Section 3 Access to Services • Section 4 Economy • Section 5 Local Prices - MODULE 2 Child-Specific Modules • Section 1 Educational Service (General) • Section 2 NOT INCLUDED IN ETHIOPIA CONTEXT INSTRUMENT • Section 3 Educational Services (Preschool, Primary, Secondary) • Section 4 Health Services • Section 5 Child Protection Services - MODULE 3 Country specific community level questions • Section 1 Conversion factors • Section 2 Migration • Section 3 Social protection program • Section 4 Equity and budget management in education and health

The community questionnaire used in India consists of the following sections: - MODULE 1 General Module • Section 1: General Community Characteristics • Section 2: Social Environment • Section 3: Access to Services • Section 4: Economy • Section 5; Local Prices - MODULE 2 Child-Specific Modules • Section 1: Educational Services (General) • Section 2: Child day care Services • Section 3: Educational Services (Preschool, Primary, Secondary) • Section 4: Health Services • Section 5: Child Protection Services

The community questionnaire used in Peru consists of the following sections: - MODULE 1 General Module • Section 1: General Community Characteristics • Section 2: Social Environment • Section 3: Access to Services • Section 4: Economy • Section 5: Local Prices - MODULE 2 Child-Specific Modules • Section 1: Educational Services (General) • Section 2: Child day care Services • Section 3: Educational Services (Preschool, Primary, Secondary) • Section 4: Health Services • Section 5: Child Protection Services

The community questionnaire used in Vietnam consists of the following sections: - MODULE 1 General Module • Section 1: General Community Characteristics • Section 2: Social Environment • Section 3: Access to Services • Section 4: Economy • Section 5: Local Prices • Section 6: Poverty Alleviation and Infrastructure Initiatives - MODULE 2 Child-Specific Module • Section 1: Educational Services (General and Country Specific) • Section 2: Child day care Services • Section 3: Educational Services (Preschool, Primary, Secondary) • Section 4: Health Services • Section 5: Child Protection Services

School Survey:
A school survey was introduced into Young Lives in 2010, following the third round of the household survey, in order to capture detailed information about children's experiences of schooling, and to improve our understanding of:

• the relationships between learning outcomes, and children's home backgrounds, gender, work, schools, teachers and class and school peer-groups
• school effectiveness, by analysing factors explaining the development of cognitive and non-cognitive skills in school, including value-added analysis of schooling and comparative analysis of school-systems
• equity issues (including gender) in relation to learning outcomes and the evolution of inequalities within education

The survey allows researchers to link longitudinal information on household and child characteristics from the household survey with data on the schools attended by the Young Lives children and children's achievements inside and outside the school. It provides policy-relevant information on the relationship between child development (and its determinants) and children's experience of school, including access, quality and progression. This combination of household, child and school-level data over time constitutes the comparative advantage of Young Lives.

A further round of school surveys took place during the 2016-2017 school year. The key focus areas for these were:

• benchmarking levels of student attainment and progress in key learning domains
• effects of school and teacher quality, and school effectiveness
• educational transitions at age 15

The 2016-2017 school surveys focused on the level of schooling accessed by 15-year-olds in each country, so including Grade 7 and 8 students in Ethiopia (upper primary level), Grade 9 students in India (lower secondary level), and Grade 10 students in Vietnam (upper secondary level).

The School Survey data are held separately for each country. The India data are available from the UK Data Archive under SN 7478 and SN 8359, the Vietnam data are available from SN 7663 and SN 8360, and the Peru data have been archived under SN 7479 (no 2016-2017 survey).

Further information is available from the Young Lives https://www.younglives.org.uk/content/school-survey" title="School Survey">School Survey webpages.

SN 9007 - Young Lives: Head Teacher Telephone Survey, Ethiopia and India, 2020
In 2020, a follow-up survey of head teachers was conducted to understand how the COVID-19 situation affected schools in Ethiopia and India. The survey investigated how schools provided support to children and families while schools remained closed, the effects of this on children's learning, and their plans for reopening.

The survey was conducted by Policy Studies Institute (PSI) in Ethiopia, Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS) in India and the University of Oxford. Both PSI and CESS obtained permission from the government for this survey to be conducted with head teachers. The research was done in collaboration with the REAL Centre, who were also carrying out surveys of head teachers (and teachers) during the school closures.

Abstract

The Young Lives survey is an innovative long-term project investigating the changing nature of childhood poverty in four developing countries. The purpose of the project is to improve understanding of the causes and consequences of childhood poverty and examine how policies affect children's well-being, in order to inform the development of future policy and to target child welfare interventions more effectively. The study is being conducted in Ethiopia, India (in Andhra Pradesh), Peru and Vietnam. These countries were selected because they reflect a range of cultural, geographical and social contexts and experience differing issues facing the developing world; high debt burden, emergence from conflict, and vulnerability to environmental conditions such as drought and flood.

The survey consists of three main elements: a child questionnaire, a household questionnaire and a community questionnaire. The household data gathered is similar to other cross-sectional datasets (such as the World Bank's Living Standards Measurement Study). It covers a range of topics such as household composition, livelihood and assets, household expenditure, child health and access to basic services, and education. This is supplemented with additional questions that cover caregiver perceptions, attitudes, and aspirations for their child and the family. Young Lives also collects detailed time-use data for all family members, information about the child's weight and height (and that of caregivers), and tests the children for school outcomes (language comprehension and mathematics). An important element of the survey asks the children about their daily activities, their experiences and attitudes to work and school, their likes and dislikes, how they feel they are treated by other people, and their hopes and aspirations for the future. The community questionnaire provides background information about the social, economic and environmental context of each community. It covers topics such as ethnicity, religion, economic activity and employment, infrastructure and services, political representation and community networks, crime and environmental changes. The Young Lives survey is carried out by teams of local researchers, supported by the Principal Investigator and Data Manager in each country.

Further information about the survey, including publications, can be downloaded from the Young Lives website.

Geographic coverage

Ethiopia - National Coverage India - Andhra Pradesh only Peru - National Coverage Vietnam - National Coverage

Analysis unit

Individuals Families/households Data are also gathered at Community and Mini-Community level.

Universe

Cross-national; Subnational Children aged 12 years old, children aged 19 years old, and the households of both sets, in Ethiopia, India (Andhra Pradesh), Peru and Vietnam. These children were originally interviewed in Rounds 1-3 of the study.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Number of units: Ethiopia: 1,875 (12-year-olds), 908 (19-year-olds); India: 1,915 (12-year-olds), 952 (19-year-olds); Peru: 1,902 (12-year-olds), 635 (19-year-olds); Vietnam: 1,932 (12-year-olds), 887 (19-year-olds) More detailed information on survey design and sampling is available at http://www.younglives.org.uk/content/our-research-methods

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face interview; Self-completion

Research instrument

The Older Cohort Household Questionnaire (age 19) includes sections on: - Parental background; Household and child education - Livelihoods and asset framework - Household food and non-food consumption and expenditure - Social capital; Economic changes and recent life history - Socio-economic status

The Older Cohort Child Questionnaire (age 19) includes sections on: - Parents and Caregiver update; Mobility - Subjective well-being - Education - Employment, earnings, and time-use - Feelings and attitudes - Household decision-making - Marital and living arrangements - Fertility; Anthropometry - Health and nutrition

The Older Cohort Cognitive Tests (age 19) includes - Mathematics test - Reading comprehension test

The Older Cohort Self-Administered Questionnaire (age 19) includes sections on: - Relationship with parents - Smoking, Violence, Alcohol, Sexual behaviour (administered in Peru only)

The Younger Cohort Household Questionnaire (age 12) includes sections on:
- Parental background - Household and child education - Livelihoods and asset framework - Household food and non-food consumption and expenditure - Social capital - Economic changes and recent life history - Socio-economic status - Health - Anthropometry (for the study child and a sibling) - Caregiver perceptions and attitudes

The Younger Cohort Child Questionnaire (age 12) includes sections on: - Schooling - Time-us - Health - Social networks - Feelings and attitudes

The Younger Cohort Cognitive Tests (age 12) include: - Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (administered to the study child and a sibling) - Mathematics test - Reading comprehension test. In Ethiopia and Peru only: a computerised cognitive skill (Executive Functioning) test administered on touch-screen tablet computers for the study child and a younger sibling. In Ethiopia only an additional English and Amharic reading test.

The Community Questionnaire (administered in the main communities where Young Lives children live) includes sections on: - General characteristics of the locality - Social environment - Access to services; Economy - Local prices - Social protection - Educational services - Health services; Migration

The Mini-community questionnaire (administered in communities into which one or study children moved) includes sections on: - General characteristics of the locality - Social environment - Access to Services - Economy - Local prices

This dataset is about books. It has 1 row and is filtered where the book is Social protection and children : a synthesis of evidence from Young Lives research in Ethiopia, India, and Peru. It features 7 columns including author, publication date, language, and book publisher.

Abstract

Young Lives: An International Study of Childhood Poverty is a collaborative project investigating the changing nature of childhood poverty in selected developing countries. The UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) is funding the first three-year phase of the project.

Young Lives involves collaboration between Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and the academic sector. In the UK, the project is being run by Save the Children-UK together with an academic consortium that comprises the University of Reading, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, South Bank University, the Institute of Development Studies at Sussex University and the South African Medical Research Council.

The study is being conducted in Ethiopia, India (in Andhra Pradesh), Peru and Vietnam. These countries were selected because they reflect a range of cultural, geographical and social contexts and experience differing issues facing the developing world; high debt burden, emergence from conflict, and vulnerability to environmental conditions such as drought and flood.

Objectives of the study The Young Lives study has three broad objectives: • producing good quality panel data about the changing nature of the lives of children in poverty. • trace linkages between key policy changes and child poverty • informing and responding to the needs of policy makers, planners and other stakeholders There will also be a strong education and media element, both in the countries where the project takes place, and in the UK.

The study takes a broad approach to child poverty, exploring not only household economic indicators such as assets and wealth, but also child centred poverty measures such as the child’s physical and mental health, growth, development and education. These child centred measures are age specific so the information collected by the study will change as the children get older.

Further information about the survey, including publications, can be downloaded from the Young Lives website.

Constructed Files: The Rounds 1-3 Constructed Files, 2002-2009 are combined sub-sets of selected variables from Round 1, 2 and 3 of the Young Lives survey. One main constructed data file is available for each of the four countries. These are presented in a panel format and contain approximately 200 original and constructed variables, with the majority comparable across all three rounds.

Geographic coverage

Young Lives is an international study of childhood poverty, involving 12,000 children in 4 countries. - Ethiopia (20 communities in Addis Ababa, Amhara, Oromia, and Southern National, Nationalities and People's Regions) - India (20 sites across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana) - Peru (74 communities across Peru) - Vietnam (20 communities in the communes of Lao Cai in the north-west, Hung Yen province in the Red River Delta, the city of Danang on the coast, Phu Yen province from the South Central Coast and Ben Tre province on the Mekong River Delta)

Analysis unit

Individuals; Families/households

Universe

Location of Units of Observation: Cross-national; Subnational Population: Young Lives children and their households, in Ethiopia, India (Andhra Pradesh), Peru and Vietnam, in 2002-2009.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Sampling Procedures: Purposive selection/case studies Number of Units: Ethiopia: 8,997 children; India: 9,057 children; Peru: 8,298 children; Vietnam: 9,000 children

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face interview

Cleaning operations

The constructed files are combined sub-sets of selected variables from Round 1, 2 and 3 of the Young Lives survey. The files contain about 200 original and constructed variables, most of them comparable across the three rounds, presented in a panel format and classified in four broad groups: panel information, general characteristics, household characteristics, and child characteristics.

Socio-demographic characteristics, Young Lives data, Ethiopia.

BackgroundWe aimed to describe the patterns of nutritional status and sleep duration in children from Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam; to assess the association between short sleep duration and overweight and obesity, and if this was similar among boys and girls in Peru.Methods and FindingsAnalysis of the Young Lives Study, younger cohort, third round. In Ethiopia there were 1,999 observations, 2,011, 2,052 and 2,000 in India, Peru and Vietnam, respectively. Analyses included participants with complete data for sleep duration, BMI, sex and age; missing data: 5.9% (Ethiopia), 4.1% (India), 6.0% (Peru) and 4.5% (Vietnam). Exposure was sleep duration per day: short (