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This paper examines the way in which learning quality has been conceptualised and measured in school effectiveness surveys conducted by Young Lives, a longitudinal study of child poverty. Primary school surveys were conducted in Vietnam in 2010–11 and Ethiopia in 2012–13, and surveys at upper-primary and secondary level were conducted in Ethiopia, India and Vietnam in 2016–17. The paper discusses the design of cognitive tests to assess Maths and reading at primary level, and then focuses on the development of cognitive tests to assess Maths, functional English and transferable skills at upper-primary and secondary level. In particular, the paper explores how learning quality can be conceptualised and measured in relation to ‘twenty-first century skills’, which are increasingly seen as an important outcome of secondary education. The challenges of designing cognitive tests to measure and compare learning quality across three diverse country contexts are also explored. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Increasing participation in family decision making is an integral part of adolescent development. This paper uses longitudinal data from four low and middle income countries—Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam—to assess the relationship between young people's involvement in schooling decision making and schooling outcomes. In the pooled sample, compared to young adults who indicate to have no say in educational choices at age 19, adolescents who make these decisions unilaterally or jointly with parents are on average 17%–23% more likely to drop out by age 22. The effects are, however, heterogenous across countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A great deal of attention is now paid to the ethics of social research. Research governance has expanded, and a burgeoning literature describes the processes, practices and questions that arise in social research with children, families and communities. This paper outlines the approach taken to research ethics within Young Lives, a longitudinal study of childhood poverty in Ethiopia, Andhra Pradesh (India), Peru and Vietnam, co-ordinated by a research team based in the UK. Drawing on fieldwork reports, qualitative data and other material, I offer some 'real life' examples of ethics questions encountered in research, providing insights into the experiences of fieldworkers. The paper emphasises the importance of understanding local contexts in undertaking research with children and families in environments that change rapidly, economically, environmentally and politically. Overall, my aim is to contribute to current debates about research practices, the ethics of longitudinal research with children, and research with children and parents in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Maternal mental health is becoming recognized as a global health priority. Mental distress among mothers of young children may be exacerbated by exposure to adversity. Social capital may buffer the impact of adversity on mental distress during the postnatal period and beyond. This paper examines the relationship between adversity, cognitive social capital and mental distress among mothers of young children in three low and middle-income countries. Methods: This study uses data from the Young Lives study on 5,485 women from Ethiopia, India, and Vietnam. Logistic regression was used to examine the association between exposure to stressful life events (SLEs) and mental distress in women between 6 months and 1.5 years post-partum. Logistic and linear regression was used to examine the potential for effect modification by social capital. Results: The proportion of women with mental distress during the period between 6–18 months following the birth of a child in the sample was 32.6% in Ethiopia, 30.5% in India and 21.1% in Vietnam. For each additional SLE to which a woman was exposed, the odds of MMD increased by 1.28 (95% CI: 1.22, 1.36; p<0.001) in Ethiopia, 1.17 (1.11, 1.25; p<0.001) in India, and 1.98 (1.75, 2.25; p<0.001) in Vietnam. Exposure to family SLEs was significantly associated with MMD in all three countries with odds ratios of 1.76 (95% CI: 1.30, 2.38; p<0.001), 1.62 (95% CI: 1.12, 2.33; p<0.01 in India), 1.93 (95% CI: 1.27, 2.92; p<0.01), respectively. In Ethiopia and India, economic SLEs were also significantly associated with MMD after adjustment (Ethiopia OR: 1.68; 95% CI: 1.12, 2.52; p<0.01 and India OR: 1.44; 95% CI: 1.01, 2.05; p<0.05), while in India, crime SLEs (OR: 1.93; 95% CI: 1.27, 2.92; p<0.01) were associated with MMD. Cognitive social capital was found to modify the association between SLEs and symptomology of mental distress in Ethiopia, India and Vietnam. Conclusions: This study suggests that adversity may increase the risk of maternal mental distress in three LMICs, while social capital may buffer its effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The papers making up this Special Section reveal important findings and begin to fill gaps in existing literature about children's and young people's understanding and developing beliefs about socioeconomic inequality and poverty. We draw on our research experience with children growing up in poverty in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam (Young Lives) from the perspective of sociology of childhood and social anthropology. The commentary discusses the papers in the Special Section and calls for policies and practices that argue for social justice for children and young people in political and economic terms and emphasizes the importance of including children's views and descriptions of their experiences in research about poverty and inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The papers making up this Special Section reveal important findings and begin to fill gaps in existing literature about children's and young people's understanding and developing beliefs about socio-economic inequality and poverty. We draw on our research experience with children growing up in poverty in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam (Young Lives) from the perspective of sociology of childhood and social anthropology. The commentary discusses the papers in the Special Section and calls for policies and practices that argue for social justice for children and young people in political and economic terms and emphasizes the importance of including children's views and descriptions of their experiences in research about poverty and inequality.

This paper examines the way in which learning quality has been conceptualised and measured in school effectiveness surveys conducted by Young Lives, a longitudinal study of child poverty. Primary school surveys were conducted in Vietnam in 2010-11 and Ethiopia in 2012-13, and surveys at upper-primary and secondary level were conducted in Ethiopia, India and Vietnam in 2016-17. The paper discusses the design of cognitive tests to assess Maths and reading at primary level, and then focuses on the development of cognitive tests to assess Maths, functional English and transferable skills at upper-primary and secondary level. In particular, the paper explores how learning quality can be conceptualised and measured in relation to "twenty-first century skills", which are increasingly seen as an important outcome of secondary education. The challenges of designing cognitive tests to measure and compare learning quality across three diverse country contexts are also explored.

Far fewer people migrate than global disparities in wealth and well-being would lead us to predict, yet we know relatively little about why those who presumably have much to gain from migration prefer to stay in place. This article examines the motivations of young people who express the preference to stay put, and asks what individual and household characteristics are associated with voluntary immobility. Using survey data collected in Ethiopia, India, and Vietnam for the Young Lives Project, we find that the majority of young people surveyed envision a future within their home country, and between 32 per cent (Ethiopia) and 60 per cent (Vietnam) prefer to stay in their current location. Most youth prefer to stay for family-related reasons. Living in an urban area and engagement in farm work are associated with greater staying aspirations, but only for youth from the most resource-poor or the wealthiest households. Higher levels of schooling, wealth, feelings of self-efficacy and paid employment are consistently associated with diminished desires to stay, with stronger effects for youth from rural settings, resource-poor households, and women. Our results reveal the social patterning of staying aspirations and have important implications for development interventions that seek to enhance aspirations and capabilities of individuals to stay in place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to identify the prevalence and physical health consequences of family structure transitions among children in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam. In many high-income countries, family structure transitions are common, and research suggests that they can lead to worse physical health for children. However, we know little about either the prevalence or consequences of family structure transitions for children in low-and middle-income countries, who make up the vast majority of the world's children. First, we estimated the number of family structure transitions by age 12 using four rounds of Young Lives data from four low-and middle-income countries (N = 8062, Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam) and validated our prevalence estimates with another dataset from these same countries. The proportion of children experiencing a family structure transition by age 12 was: 14.8% in Ethiopia, 5.6% in India, 22.0% in Peru, and 7.7% in Vietnam. We put these estimates in context by comparing them to 17 high- and upper-middle-income countries. Second, using linear mixed models, we found that family structure transitions were not directly associated with worse physical health for children in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam. Children in Peru experienced higher rates of family structure transitions relative to children in the other Young Lives countries, and similar rates to many of the 17 comparison countries, yet physical health was unaffected. It is possible that in low-and middle-income countries, the environment may overwhelm family stability as a determinant of physical health. Highlights: The prevalence of children experiencing a family structure transition by age 12 in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam was 5.6–22.0%: a wide-range, similar to what has been observed in high-income contexts. Family structure transitions are not directly associated with children's general physical health in Ethiopia, India, Peru, or Vietnam. Family structure transitions do not influence children's general physical health trajectories over time in Ethiopia, India, Peru, or Vietnam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is limited information on the feeding practices of 9.42 million children living within institution‐based care (IBC) worldwide. Poor feeding practices can predispose or exacerbate malnutrition, illness and disability. Here we describe the feeding practices of children living within IBC based on a retrospective analysis of records from 3335 children, 0–18 years old, participating in Holt International's Child Nutrition Program (CNP), from 36 sites in six countries. Data analysed included demographic information on age, sex, feeding practices, disabilities and feeding difficulties. Descriptive statistics were produced. A generalised linear model explored associations between feeding difficulties and disability and 2 × 2 tables examined feeding difficulties over time. An additional set of feeding observations with qualitative and quantitative data was analysed. At baseline, the median age of children was 16 months (0.66–68 months) with 1650/3335 (49.5%) females. There were 757/3335 (22.7%) children with disabilities; 550/984 (55.9%) were low birth weight; 311/784 (39.7%) were premature; 447/3113 (14.4%) had low body mass index and 378/3335 (11.3%) had feeding difficulties. The adjusted risk of having a feeding difficulty was 5.08 ([95% confidence interval: 2.65–9.7], p ≤ 0.001) times greater in children with disabilities than those without. Many children saw their feeding difficulties resolve after 1‐year in CNP, 54/163 (33.1%) for children with disabilities and 57/106 (53.8%) for those without disabilities. Suboptimal hygiene, dietary and feeding practices were reported. In conclusion, feeding difficulties were common in IBC, especially among children with disabilities. Supporting safe interactive mealtimes for children living within IBC should be prioritised, to ensure overall health and development. Key points: Feeding difficulties are common among children living in institution‐based care (IBC), particularly but not exclusively among those children with disabilities.Suboptimal feeding practices were common in IBC and encompassed inadequate hygiene, limited support for self‐feeding, reading children's feeding cues (especially around pacing and satiety), addressing feeding difficulties, such as difficulty chewing or swallowing. These should be prioritised in training and supervision for caregivers.Addressing the needs of this vulnerable group should include support for safe feeding techniques. These should be prioritised to help ease the transition into eventual family‐based care if we are to move towards deinstitutionalizing children and strengthening families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Wellbeing" is a key concept in the study of children's lives over time, given its potential to link the objective, subjective, and inter-subjective dimensions of their experiences in ways that are holistic, contextualized and longitudinal. For this reason wellbeing is one of the core concepts used by Young Lives, a 15-year project (2000-2015) that follows the lives of 12,000 children growing up in the context of poverty in Ethiopia, Peru, Vietnam and Andhra Pradesh (India) (see http://www.younglives.org.uk). This paper examines a selection of methods being used by Young Lives to capture aspects of child wellbeing in the context of a range of children's life experiences related to poverty, specific risks and protective processes. It draws on a review of the literature on child-focused methods and on recent experiences piloting three core qualitative methods in the four study countries. The paper reports the development of a methodology that is child-centred, but also acknowledges that every child is embedded within a network of social and economic relationships.

This paper summarises experiences of efforts made by twenty individuals when implementing small-scale ICT development projects in their organizations located in seven developing countries. The main focus of these projects was the use of ICT in educational settings. Challenges encountered and the contributing factors for implementation success of the projects are systematically investigated using interviews and follow up surveys. Results show that the typical limitations of technology and infrastructure were the key obstacles. The commitment of individual project managers in the role of "change agents" and organizational support in the were the strengths behind the success of the projects. Based on the outcome of this study, professional development of the change agents is a key factor for the success of projects. IT and infrastructure limitations contributed to the failure of the majority of the ICT related projects.

This paper provides evidence on the predicted benefits of maternal education, in terms of reduced child malnutrition at ages 1 and 5, focusing specifically on the complementarities with early life interventions across contexts. Using data from the Young Lives Longitudinal Study for Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam, results show the expected association of maternal education with reduced likelihood of malnutrition both at ages 1 and 5. However, the benefits of maternal education via access to an early life intervention (antenatal care), are found only in some countries and for some levels of maternal education. Inequalities in the risk of malnutrition between those with the highest endowments of maternal education and access to antenatal services, and those without these, are significant within countries. We conclude that programmes which aim to reduce the risks of malnutrition should consider local knowledge and realities in order to understand more fully the expected benefits.

Many interventions focus on preventing stunting in the first 1,000 days of life. We take a broader perspective on childhood growth to assess the proportions of children who suffer persistent stunting, recover, and falter and become newly stunted between birth and adolescence. We use longitudinal data collected on 7,128 children in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam. Data were collected in five survey waves between the ages of 1 to 15 years. We use descriptive and graphical approaches to compare the trajectories of children first stunted by age 1, first stunted by age 5, and those remained not stunted until age 5. On average, 29.6% of children were first stunted by age 1, 12.9% of children were first stunted by the age 5, and 68.7% of children were not stunted at either age 1 or age 5. A larger percentage of children stunted by age 1 remained stunted at age 15 (40.7%) compared with those who were first stunted by age 5 (32.3%); 33.7% of children first stunted by age 1 and 31.1% of children first stunted by age 5 go on to recover, but then falter during later childhood. 13.1% of children who were not stunted at age 1 or age 5 become newly stunted between the ages of 8 and 15. Our results show that children both become stunted and recover from stunting into adolescence. More attention should be paid to interventions to support healthy growth throughout childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the household determinants of teen marriage in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam using data from the international Young Lives study tracking a cohort of children from the ages of 8-19 over a 15-year period. First, we offer a descriptive and comparative overview of the prevalence of teen marriage among girls in geographically selected areas of the four countries, together with their sociodemographic determinants. Second, we place a specific focus on the role of gender and sibling sex-composition in shaping the probability of getting married by age 19. Drawing on the significant cross-country heterogeneity in household context, direction of marriage payments, and prevalence of arranged marriage, we test hypotheses relating to the availability of economic resources within the household and cultural norms surrounding the order and timing of marriage. We show that in Ethiopia, India, and Vietnam, presence and number of older sisters in the household are associated with a 30-50 percent lower likelihood of teen marriage, while the association is null in Peru. Also, we show that having a girl as next-youngest sibling does not significantly affect girls' likelihood of experiencing teen marriage, except in Ethiopia. Our results combined support theories of family-level resource constraints over sibling rivalry hypotheses. Our findings enrich and complement existing evidence on the role of sibling sex-composition on adolescent outcomes in low- and middle-income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Very few studies of peer victimization have been conducted in low-resource countries, where cultural and contextual differences are likely to influence the dynamics of these experiences in ways that may reduce the generalizability of findings of the larger body of literature. Most studies in these settings are also subject to multiple design limitations that restrict our ability to understand the dynamics of peer victimization experiences. Person-centered approaches such as latent class analysis are an improvement on more traditional modeling approaches as they allow exploration of patterns of victimization experiences. The goal of the current study was to examine associations between patterns of peer victimization in adolescence and both concurrent and longitudinal psychosocial adjustment. Data were included for 3536 youth (49.6% female) in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam to examine associations between adolescent peer victimization and indicators of poor psychosocial adjustment. Previously derived latent classes of peer victimization based on youth self-report of past-year exposure to nine forms of peer victimization at age 15 were used to predict self-reported emotional difficulties, self-rated health, and subjective wellbeing at ages 15 and 19 while controlling for sex. The findings show that at age 15, victimization was associated with higher emotional difficulties in all settings, lower subjective wellbeing in all except Peru, and lower self-rated health in Vietnam. At follow-up, all associations had attenuated and were largely non-significant. Sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of these results. These findings illustrate the multifinality of outcomes of peer victimization, suggesting social and developmental influences for potential pathways of resilience that hold promise for informing interventions and supports in both low and high resource settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing global problem. Raising awareness is central to global and national action plans to address AMR in human and livestock sectors. Evidence on the best ways to reduce antibiotic use, and the impact of awareness raising activities is mixed. This paucity of evidence is acute in Low-Middle-Income Country (LMIC) settings, where healthcare professionals who prescribe and dispense antimicrobial medicines are often assumed to have limited awareness of AMR and limited knowledge of the optimum use of antimicrobials. Objectives: This research aimed to explore AMR awareness among human and animal healthcare professionals and the contextual issues influencing the relationship between awareness and practices of antimicrobial prescribing and dispensing across different LMIC settings. Methods: Qualitative interviews and field observations were undertaken in seven study sites in Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, the Philippines, Sierra Leone and Vietnam. Data included transcripts from interviews with 244 purposively sampled healthcare professionals, analysed for cross-cutting themes. Results: AMR awareness was high among human and animal healthcare professionals. This awareness of AMR did not translate into reduced prescribing and dispensing; rather, it linked to the ready use of next-line antibiotics. Contextual factors that influenced prescribing and dispensing included antibiotic accessibility and affordability; lack of local antibiotic sensitivity information; concerns over hygiene and sanitation; and interaction with medical representatives. Conclusions: The high awareness of AMR in our study populations did not translate into reduced antibiotic prescribing. Contextual factors such as improved infrastructure, information and regulation seem essential for reducing reliance on antibiotics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study finds a differential impact of different types of natural disasters on education and cognitive ability of children aged 12 to 15 years in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam using a Young Lives data set and child fixed‐effects regression. Floods tend to cause more harmful effects on children's education than droughts, frosts, and hailstorms. Exposure to floods reduces the number of completed grades of children in Ethiopia, India, and Vietnam. For the case of Vietnam, exposure to floods also decreases school enrollment, and cognitive ability scores of children. Although floods do not have a significant effect on children in India, droughts, frosts, and hailstorms have a significantly negative effect on cognitive ability test scores of children. In Peru, the effect of disasters on children's education is small and not statistically significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study's purpose was to understand associations between water, sanitation, and child growth.Methods: We estimated stunting (height-for-age Z score <-2 SD) and thinness (BMI-Z <-2 SD) risk ratios using data from 7,715 Ethiopian, Indian, Peruvian, and Vietnamese children from the Young Lives study.Results: In unadjusted models, household access to improved water and toilets was often associated with reduced stunting risk. After adjusting for child, household, parent, and community variables, access to improved water was usually not associated with stunting nor thinness except in Ethiopia where access to improved water was associated with reduced stunting and thinness at 1y and 5y. In contrast, in both unadjusted and adjusted models, stunting at 1y was less common among children with good toilet access than among those without access and this difference persisted when children were 5y and 8y. For example, in adjusted estimates, Vietnamese 5y olds with access to improved toilets had relative stunting risk at 8y 0.62-0.68 that of 5y olds with no access to improved toilets. Water and toilets were rarely associated with thinness.Conclusions: Results from our study indicate that access to improved sanitation is more frequently associated with reduced stunting risk than access to improved water. However, additional studies are needed before drawing definitive conclusions about the impact of toilets relative to water. This study is the first to our knowledge to demonstrate the robust and persistent importance of access to improved toilets in infancy, not only during the first year but continuing into childhood. Additional longitudinal investigations are needed to determine concurrent and long-term associations of WASH with stunting and thinness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Extend analyses of maternal mental health and infant growth in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to children through age eight years, and broaden analyses to cognitive and psychosocial outcomes. Design Community-based longitudinal cohort study in four LMICs (Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam). Surveys and anthropometric assessments were carried out when the children were approximately ages 1, 5 and 8 years. Risk of maternal common mental disorders (rCMDs) was assessed with the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ)-20 (score ≥8). Setting Rural and urban as well as low- and middle-income communities. Participants 7722 mothers and their children. Main outcome measures Child stunting and underweight (Z score ≤2 of height and weight for age), and <20th centile for: cognitive development (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test), and the psychosocial outcomes self pride and life satisfaction. Results A high rate of rCMD, stunting and underweight was seen in the cohorts. After adjusting for confounders, significant associations were found between maternal rCMDs and growth variables in the first year of life, with persistence to age 8 years in India and Vietnam, but not in the other countries. India and Vietnam also showed significant associations between rCMDs and lower cognitive development. After adjustment, rCMD was associated with low life satisfaction in Ethiopia but not in the other cohorts. Conclusions Associations of maternal rCMD in the first year of life with child outcomes varied across the study cohorts and, in some cases, persisted across the first 8 years of life of the child, and included growth, cognitive development and psychosocial domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To assess the occurrence of child injury in four developing country settings and to explore potential risk factors for injury. Methods Injury occurrence was studied in cohorts of 2000 children of age 6–17 months at enrolment, in each of Ethiopia, Peru, Vietnam and India (Andhra Pradesh). Generalized estimating equation models were used to explore potential risk factors for child injury. Results Occurrence of child injury was high in all countries. Caregiver depression emerged as a consistent risk factor for all types of injury measured (burns, serious falls, broken bones and near-fatal injury) across all countries. Other risk factors also showed consistent associations, including long-term child health problems, region of residence and the regular care of the child by a non-household member. Conclusions This report provides further evidence of the importance of childhood injury in developing countries and emphasizes the importance of including infants in injury research and prevention strategies. It provides strong evidence of an association between caregiver mental health and child injury risk and contributes to the limited knowledge base on risk factors for child injury in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational access in developing countries has improved significantly in recent years, but less evidence is available on learning and learning progress in comparative perspective. This paper employs data from Young Lives to examine levels and trends in cognitive skill development and the links to enrolment in school across the four study countries for pupils aged five to 15. Non-continuous patterns of enrolment are linked to lower learning levels in all countries, as are key indicators of home background disadvantage. Large differences in learning and learning progress are also found between the four countries' education sytems, with "learning gains" being typically highest in Vietnam and much lower in India (Andhra Pradesh) and Ethiopia. Inequalities linked to prior learning and home backgrounds are wide in Peru, while in Ethiopia and India relatively low levels of learning progress are a more general concern. In Ethiopia, both enrolment and quality improvements remain priorities for policy, while in India high levels of primary school enrolment, at younger ages than in the other study countries, suggest that comprehensive quality improvements may be required, nonetheless with a focus on disadvantaged pupils and those with low attainment in the early years.

The authors review the contribution of qualitative methods to exploring concepts and experiences of wellbeing among children and adults living in developing countries. They provide examples illustrating the potential of these methods for gaining a holistic and contextual understanding of people's perceptions and experiences. Some of these come from Young Lives, an innovative long-term international research project investigating the changing nature of child poverty in India, Ethiopia, Peru and Vietnam (http://www.younglives.org.uk), and others from the Wellbeing in Developing Countries ESRC research group (WeD), an international, inter-disciplinary project exploring the social and cultural construction of wellbeing in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Peru and Thailand (http://www.welldev.org.uk). The authors show how qualitative methods can be used both alongside and as part of the development of sensitive and relevant quantitative measures, and provide some practical and methodological recommendations. They propose that qualitative approaches are essential in understanding people's experiences of wellbeing, both now and in the future. However, the authors caution that while these offer many benefits, for example, a less structured and hierarchical engagement between researcher and participant; they require time, energy, and sensitivity. Qualitative methods also work best when used by trained and experienced researchers working in the local language/s in a community where some rapport has already been established. Finally, the paper recommends combining data from qualitative and quantitative approaches (e.g. psychological measures or household surveys) to enhance its explanatory power.

Stunting, a form of anthropometric failure, disproportionately affects children in developing countries with a higher burden on children living in poverty. How early life deprivation affects physical growth over various life stages is less well-known. We investigate the short- and long-run associations between household wealth in early life with physical growth in childhood in four low- and middle-income countries to understand the persistent implications of early life conditions of poverty and resource constraints on physical growth. Longitudinal study of eight cohorts of children in four countries – Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam (n=10,016) – ages 6 months to 15 years, using data from the Young Lives project, 2002–2009. Physical growth outcomes are standardized height-for-age z-scores (HAZ) and stunting. The key exposure is household wealth measured at baseline using a wealth index, an asset-based indicator. Covariates include child's age and sex, caregiver's educational status, household size, and place of residence. Baseline wealth index is significantly associated with higher physical growth rates as suggested by higher HAZ and lower odds of stunting. We found these associations in all four countries, for younger and older cohorts and for children who experienced changes in living standards. For the older cohort, despite the timing of the first survey at age 7–8 years, which is beyond the critical period of 1,000 days, there are lasting influences of early poverty, even for those who experienced changes in wealth. Household wealth in early life matters for physical growth with conditions of poverty and deprivation influencing growth faltering even beyond the 1,000 days window. The influences of early childhood poverty, so prevalent among children in low- and middle-income countries, must be addressed by policies and programs targeting early life but also focusing on older children experiencing growth faltering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Human growth and final height are influenced by many factors such as genetics, nutrition, living conditions, socioeconomic background and, as recently proposed, by social peer groups and the community. In this paper, we aim to evaluate the extent to which spatial proximity, acting as a proxy for the social community, causes height clustering in low and middle income countries., Material and Methods: We analyzed data from the study "Young Lives-Measuring Child Poverty and Health", a study performed in four low and middle income countries (Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam) to describe the health situation of children. We used linear mixed effects models with different random effect structures to analyze the influence of the community on clustering of height in boys and girls., Results: In all analyzed low and middle income countries, linear mixed effects with hierarchical structures with communities nested within regions provide a better fit than the basic models neglecting community-based clustering (p < .001)., Discussion: Although the underlying mechanisms require future research, spatial proximity arising from clustering needs to be integrated into explorative modelling of height variability in humans., (© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Objectives: Early life interventions are considered essential for reducing the burden of health inequalities over the life course. This paper tests this issue empirically focusing on whether access to antenatal care can later reduce children's health and educational inequalities., Methods: Data came from the Young Lives Project for Ethiopia, Peru, Vietnam, and the State of Andhra Pradesh in India. We selected children born in early 2001/2002 and who were followed longitudinally in 2006/2007. We used multilevel mixed effects linear regression models to estimate the parameters of interest., Results: We found a positive and significant relationship between mothers' access to antenatal care and their children's cognitive development in all countries. In addition, we found a positive and significant relationship between antenatal care and children's cognitive development for stunted children but only in Peru and Vietnam., Conclusions: We conclude that (1) antenatal care has the potential to change the negative consequences of early nutritional deficiencies on later cognitive development in Peru and Vietnam; (2) differentials in the quality of antenatal care services could explain the cross-country differentials in the role of early life interventions found here.

Women and the poor are disproportionately affected by common mental disorders (CMD), and women in low income countries are particularly at risk. Social capital may explain some of the geographical variation in CMD, but the association between social capital and CMD in low income countries has rarely been studied. This paper aims to explore the relationship between individual and ecological measures of social capital and maternal CMD in four low income countries. Cross-sectional data from the Young Lives (YL) study with information across 234 communities in Peru, Ethiopia, Vietnam and Andhra Pradesh (India) were used. The mental health of mothers of one-year-old children (n=6909), and the individual cognitive and structural social capital of all respondents was assessed. Ecological social capital was calculated by aggregating individual responses to the community level. Multi-level modelling was used to explore the association between individual and ecological (community level) social capital and maternal CMD in each of the four countries, adjusting for a wide range of individual and community level confounders. The analysis shows that individual cognitive social capital is associated with reduced odds of CMD across all four countries. The results for structural social capital are more mixed and culturally specific, with some aspects associated with increased odds of CMD. This suggests that structural social capital has context-specific effects and cognitive social capital more universal effects on maternal CMD.