Short‑term Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Adolescents in Low- and Middle Income Countries

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Date   

Friday, April 16, 2021 

Time   

11:00 am - 12:30 pm EDT (UTC-4:00)   

Title   

Young lives, interrupted: short‑term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescents in low- and middle income countries

                            Authors   

Dr. Alan Sánchez, Senior Researcher at GRADE (Lima, Peru), Principal Investigator at Young Lives Peru, and Academic Visitor at the Oxford Department of International Development and
Dr. Catherine Porter, Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics, Lancaster University

Abstract   

We examine how the lives of adolescents in Low- and Middle- Income countries have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic downturn using data from a large-scale phone survey conducted in four countries as a part of Young Lives, a 20-year longitudinal study. The phone survey asked detailed information about the COVID-19 pandemic experiences as well as collecting welfare indicators that are comparable across rounds. This allows a unique opportunity to compare a cohort of young people born around the turn of the Millennium (Younger Cohort) with an Older Cohort born in 1994, measured at the same age but seven years previously; both cohorts have been surveyed by the project since 2002. We find that relative gains in multidimensional well-being of the Younger Cohort found in survey rounds up to 2016 had largely disappeared in 2020. The significant (absolute and relative) downturn in self-reported wellbeing and economic circumstances is apparent in India, Ethiopia, and Peru, though not in Vietnam, the country which has had the most success at controlling the virus. However, educational enrolment has been affected in all countries. We suggest that the consequences of education dropout and links to potential mental health issues may mean the effects are long lasting in the absence of interventions to support young people’s wellbeing and livelihoods.

Speakers Bios   

Alan Sánchez is a Senior Researcher at GRADE (Lima, Peru), Principal Investigator at Young Lives Peru, and Academic Visitor at the Oxford Department of International Development. He has a DPhil in Economics and an MSc in Economics for Development from the University of Oxford. His research is focused on analyzing the determinants and impacts of human capital from early life throughout childhood, adolescence and early adulthood in the context of developing countries.

Catherine Porter is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics at Lancaster University. She acts as a Senior Adviser to the quantitative team in Young Lives at Work, contributing to questionnaire development, piloting, and the research agenda.  Catherine worked with Young Lives in 2008-2010 as a research officer, coordinating the third round of the quantitative surveys, and has been involved since then as a research associate, working mainly on Ethiopia and Peru.  Her research interests include skills development, the impact of policies and programs, as well as the effects of shocks in childhood on outcomes (nutrition, skills, wellbeing) in the long and short term.