May 2005, Vol. 11, No. 2

Transitions to Adulthood
Globalization Is Transforming Adolescence in the Developing World

The largest-ever generation of people aged 10–24 is now making the transition from childhood to adulthood. One and a half billion of them—86 percent—live in developing countries. Adolescence is a pivotal stage of physical, emotional, cognitive, social, and economic transitions, often characterized— particularly for girls—by lack of autonomy. The nature and quality of young people’s adult lives, as well as a country’s social and economic development, depend on how successfully they navigate this critical period.

Accelerating globalization, which carries the transformative power of new markets and new technology, can invalidate traditional expectations regarding future employment prospects and life experiences. Photo credit: Melissa May, Vietnam

More than three years ago, the U.S. National Academies asked Cynthia B. Lloyd, Population Council director of social science research, to lead an expert panel in examining transitions to adulthood in developing countries and outlining the policy implications of its findings. Two other Council senior social scientists, Shireen Jejeebhoy and Barbara Mensch, also participated on the 15-member panel, which focused particularly on the influence of gender. Population Council researchers have concentrated on the study of adolescents since the early 1990s, committed to moving the field of adolescent policy research from a narrow focus on sexuality and reproductive health to broader attention to social and economic issues that underpin adolescent health.

In 2005, the panel’s investigations culminated in the publication of Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries. The panel found that despite widespread progress in certain areas, many young people still lack good health and adequate schooling—both of which are essential for ensuring their productivity and well-being. The lives of many of these young men and women are profoundly different from those of their parents. While change itself is not new, the speed of globalization has accelerated and its scale has widened.

Health
Growing Up Global reports that, on average, this generation is healthier and has an improved chance of surviving to old age, compared to the same age group 20 years ago. But HIV/AIDS has had a hugely negative impact on young people, most notably in sub- Saharan Africa, where the disease is now the leading cause of death for 15–29-year-olds. More young women than young men die of AIDS in that region. “Young women, particularly the youngest adolescent girls, also face increased risk of death and disease related to first pregnancy, childbirth, and unsafe abortion,” elaborates Jejeebhoy. The panel concluded that unprotected sex is one of the riskiest behaviors that young people can undertake. Simultaneously, tobacco use is increasing throughout the developing world, and the gender gap in smoking prevalence is rapidly closing, with more young women taking up the practice. There is also evidence that illicit drug use among young people is rising, and alcohol use is expected to go up.

Schooling
The panel’s review of educational trends provides a revealing indication of the future because school is the most influential transforming agent in society after the family. The numbers show that young people in the developing world are now more likely than in the past to attend school during adolescence and postpone entering the labor force. But there remain large differences in school attendance rates according to wealth and residential status, with poor girls suffering particular disadvantage.

The results of internationally comparable standardized tests raise serious concerns about how much students are actually learning in school, and therefore about school quality. Photo credit: Monica Grant, Pakistan

Although global trends in population, health, urbanization, and education have contributed positively to the demand for education, many schools are of poor quality, thus limiting enrollment, encouraging dropout, and compromising learning. “Results from recent internationally comparable standardized tests raise serious concerns about how much students are actually learning,” says Lloyd.

Nevertheless, the economic payoff for attending high school and college is consistently high, and the gap in income, job stability, and upward mobility between those who have attended only primary school and those who have completed more schooling is widening. In many parts of Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean, increasing numbers of young people have been absorbed into the labor force without any large rise in youth unemployment; yet the challenge of providing employment for young people remains substantial in some of the poorer countries of Asia, sub- Saharan Africa, and the Middle East, given unprecedented growth in younger populations.

Rising school enrollment, trends toward greater democratization, greater access to the media, and globalization have all increased opportunities for young people to become active and involved members of their communities. Although television, radio, and newspapers are becoming more accessible to young people, their availability varies greatly by region. Among 15–19-year-olds, for example, 22 percent in southern and eastern Africa watch television at least once a week, compared with 91 percent in former Soviet Asia. The media, along with schools, employers, national service programs, and sports and other informal youth programs, play increasingly important roles in citizenship formation.

Early marriage
Marriage prior to age 18 is considered by many to be a human rights violation. According to Demographic and Health Survey data, which cover 60 percent of the developing world’s population, nearly 40 percent of young women marry before that age—down from about 50 percent two decades ago. Although the fraction of girls who marry at a young age is still substantial, Mensch observes that “the decline in early marriage is quite widespread, lending support to the notion that global changes are affecting the transition to adulthood.” However, even marked improvement in some areas is insufficient to fully overcome certain inequities. Young women in the developing world who marry as minors are more likely to come from poor households and rural areas and to have relatively little schooling.

Entry into marriage is strongly associated with entry into parenthood. More than 90 percent of first births occur within marriage, and this percentage has changed only minimally over the past 20 years. Early childbearing remains common in many parts of the developing world because of high rates of early marriage. According to Demographic and Health Survey data, 23 percent of young women aged 20–24 in the developing world gave birth before age 18. By comparison, in the United States in 1995, only 9 percent of young women aged 20–24 gave birth before age 18.

Poverty is the greatest barrier to making a successful transition to adulthood. Photo credit: Melissa May, Ghana

Poverty is the greatest barrier to making a successful transition to adulthood. As a percentage of the population, poverty rates have declined worldwide, except in sub-Saharan Africa. But as a result of rapid population growth, the number of young people living in poor families is roughly the same as it was ten years ago—325 million. There are more young people surviving on one dollar a day than there are people living in the United States, where the current population is roughly 300 million.

Policy recommendations
Substantial investments in the health and schooling of young people will equip them to participate constructively in shaping their own and their countries’ future. Policies and programs, if they are to be effective, must be evidence-based, locally appropriate, and designed in cooperation with developing-country governments and local communities.

Policies and programs designed to enhance successful transitions for young people should be targeted to the poor, particularly poor young women, who are often doubly disadvantaged. The panel also calls for interventions that promote gender equity in the arenas of citizenship, work, marriage, and parenthood in all social classes. “Achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals of universal primary schooling and gender equity in schooling will not be enough to ensure that the next generation of young people acquires the skills necessary for successful adulthood,” says Lloyd. “Policymakers should give equal attention to school quality and expanding enrollments at the secondary level.”

The panel recommends that policymakers increase the provision of general health information and sex education, including negotiating skills, for all young people and increase the availability of reproductive health services. Some of the most important reproductive health interventions for young people may lie outside the health sector. For example, school participation and higher levels of educational attainment appear to have positive associations with young people’s health; both male and female students who remain enrolled during their teens are substantially less likely to have had sex than their unmarried peers who are not enrolled. Indeed, the growing percentage of adolescents attending school may have contributed to delays in the age of sexual initiation in some countries, which were documented by the panel. Thus, resources spent on expanding opportunities for secondary schooling may have a direct effect on the reproductive health of young people.

The challenges of promoting a successful passage to adulthood for young people in developing countries are significant. Investing in their health and schooling as well as in opportunities for productive livelihoods will greatly enhance young people’s future prospects.

Source
Lloyd, Cynthia B. (ed.). 2005. Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries, a report of the National Research Council Panel on Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. (summary)

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See Also

• "Transitions to adulthood," overview (full text)

• "Broad survey of Pakistani youth completed," Population Briefs, October 2003 (full text)