Conclusion: Learning from the experiences of Young Lives children

This concluding chapter summarises key messages and reflects on what has been learned from running the Young Lives study. There are six key reflections from the Young Lives study. First is the value of talking to children themselves in both qualitative and survey research. Second is the value of multidisciplinary perspectives for public policy research. Third is the centrality of maintaining respectful and effective engagement with research participants. Fourth is the importance of long-term partnerships for effective research and policy engagement. Fifth is the usefulness of international comparison and the balance between this and national specificity. Finally, it is important to value the type of knowledge a study like Young Lives generates. Young Lives is a resource that can be used by future researchers to extend the boundaries of what is known about children, poverty, and human development.

Adolescence and youth: A time of responsibility and transformation

This chapter focuses on adolescence and youth, which is increasingly accepted as a particularly sensitive phase of human development, characterised by significant changes in the brain and body. Much is made of the heightened brain plasticity and emotional responsiveness during this period, wherein learning and adaptation are accelerated. This is the primary rationale for viewing adolescence as a second critical window for policy interventions to build on investments in early life and boost later chances. Indeed, there has been considerable policy momentum around adolescent sexual and reproductive health, community engagement, and labour market readiness. Adolescents are also touched by many of the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 4 on quality education and SDG 8 on decent work and economic growth.

Early childhood: The essential foundation

This chapter discusses the absolute importance of a good start in early childhood as the foundation for later human development. It focuses on two core development concerns: under-nutrition, and preschool circumstances and interventions. The Young Lives countries show progress in stunting reduction, notably in Peru where reducing under-nutrition has been given national importance. The ongoing prevalence of stunting nevertheless is a clear channel through which poverty in childhood results in disadvantaged development. Interventions to improve early childhood circumstances have been shown to work for the poorest children. Indeed, nutritional supplementation has been found to support healthy growth, especially for young children and poorer children. Interventions to support infants also have the potential to support mothers and primary caregivers. As these findings suggest, to ensure their survival, health, and development, young children need a multi-sectoral response.

Middle childhood: A key time for healthy development and learning

This chapter examines middle childhood. Skills and values developed during middle childhood build on foundations established in early childhood and set the stage for adolescence. Thus, it is vital that the momentum established in the early years is sustained through this important life phase. Young Lives evidence shows that children's growth trajectories are more dynamic during middle childhood than is often recognised. This finding suggests a wider policy opportunity. The evidence from systematic reviews points to the importance of measures such as social protection, which has been shown to increase livelihood security. With near-universal access to school during middle childhood, midday meals and other nutrition programmes in schools may also help support children's growth. Moreover, the focus on strengthened education and learning quality is especially important for the early grades, given that early performance in key areas such as literacy and numeracy lays the foundation for later educational performance.

The Young Lives design and conceptual framework

This chapter outlines the Young Lives study design and conceptual framework. Child development is fundamentally shaped by the national, community, and family contexts in which children live, and by the relationships within which skills, beliefs, and wellbeing are fostered. As such, fully understanding children's development through the life course requires a broad framework that includes attention to the many structures and processes affecting caregivers, families, and households, as these in turn affect children. The bioecological model provides the core conceptual basis for the Young Lives study, identifying the many layers and influences on children's development, and encouraging an analysis of how those wider structural determinants shape poverty and inequalities facing children. Since the cascade approach helps explain how advantages and disadvantages accumulate, it provides a policy tool to assess the factors that make the greatest difference for which children and at which point in their lives.

Modelling the development of language and mathematics abilities from early childhood to adolescence

This chapter assesses what mattered most during the phases of human development. This is done by introducing a new approach, Latent Growth Modelling, which allows the analysis to go further by simultaneously evaluating multiple paths that affected children's development, over the five survey rounds, and deciding which were relatively more important. The model is applied to the Younger Cohort and the aim is to illustrate the operation of developmental cascades for changes in receptive vocabulary and mathematics abilities. These models are especially suitable in the case of Young Lives because they bring together 15 years of longitudinal evidence and are tested across the four study countries. The chapter then uses the findings both from the earlier chapters and the modelling presented here to lay out a positive developmental cascade for transitions to adulthood. This provides a framework for action based on Young Lives data, regarding what mattered most and when.

Growing up in a time of extraordinary change

This chapter highlights some of the major social and economic trends in the Young Lives study countries over the past 15 years and briefly indicates how such trends have affected and are perceived by sample children, their caregivers, and households. There have been many positive developments, as poverty levels and stunting rates have declined, and infrastructure and service access improved. Intergenerational progress has also been observed, with many children experiencing better health and more education than the previous generation. Gender inequalities in access to education have decreased and more young women are able to delay marriage and parenthood. Moreover, new technologies have brought many benefits, expanding children's horizons. However, significant social and economic disparities persist, and children in rural areas and from minority groups continue to face disadvantages across many aspects of their lives.

Introduction: From surviving to thriving?

This introductory chapter provides a background of the Young Lives study, which began in 2001. Young Lives was set up during a period of optimism for global development associated with the Millennium Declaration, with the aim of informing the Millennium Development Goals to reduce poverty. At the time, data on child poverty in low- and middle-income countries were scarce and inconsistent. It was clear, however, that this was a very significant problem. Young Lives has been collecting detailed information on a wide range of topics — including health, nutrition, education, time use, and psychosocial wellbeing — from 12,000 boys and girls living in diverse sites across the four study countries, as well as from schools attended by some of the children. These study countries include Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam.