TRANSITIONS TO ADULTHOOD
Schooling

In recent years, the Population Council’s program of research on transitions to adulthood has given special attention to schooling. Formal schools are the primary setting in which most young people acquire the productive skills needed for adulthood. In addition, the school is the most important institution outside the family involved in socializing young people into all dimensions of adult roles and responsibilities.

More years of schooling have been associated with many positive outcomes, including later ages of marriage, lower fertility, and healthier and better-educated children. Much less is known about the implications of variations in the quality of schooling for various reproductive outcomes.

Council research on schooling explores school factors affecting enrollment and retention decisions, in particular school access and various aspects of school quality. A particular focus is gender differences in school experiences, including teacher attitudes about the capabilities of boys and girls and differential classroom dynamics. Council research has also explored which aspects of schooling, including the implementation and quality of life-skills programs, may be associated with later sexual initiation and more responsible sexual behavior.

Selected Projects

Current

• Malawi: Plotting a Safe, Healthy, and Prosperous Path to Adulthood: A Longitudinal Study of Schooling Quality and Experience in Malawi (2007–2009)

• Sudan: The Protective Role of Education in Humanitarian Emergencies: The Situation of Displaced Sudanese Children and Youth in Darfur (9/07–12/09)

• Ethiopia: Leave No Women Behind: A Program to Support Adolescent Girls and Women in Rural Amhara Region, Ethiopia (1/06–12/08)

• Vietnam: Findings from an Adolescent Survey (completed 2008)

• Interregional: Rethinking Sexuality Education (completed 2008)

• Pakistan: Educational Opportunities in Rural Areas (ongoing)

• Pakistan: National Survey of Young People (ongoing)

Completed

• South Africa: Gender, Socioeconomic Status, and Youth HIV Risk (completed 12/07)

• South Africa: Transitions to Adulthood in the Context of AIDS (completed 12/07)

• Pakistan: Evaluation of the Punjab Female School Stipend Program (completed 6/07)

• Egypt: Assessing Equality of Access to Education in Egypt (completed 5/07)

• Guatemala: Creating Opportunities for Mayan Adolescent Girls (completed 12/06)

• India: Livelihood Skills and Opportunities for Girls (completed 2005)

• Bangladesh: Schooling, Livelihoods, and Marriage (completed 2003)

• Egypt: Findings from a National Adolescent Survey (completed 2003)

Publications/Resources on this issue

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