Life events

In the course of growing up, children experience many different changes, or transitions, in their life. They move into and out of education, may migrate, experience sickness or death in their family, start work, and eventually might marry and have children of their own. Poverty plays a vital part in shaping these life events.

As a longitudinal study, Young Lives looks at transitions as they happened (past), as they are happening (present) and as they might happen in the future (expectations). We document the stories children tell about their lives, the changing contexts in which they live, and represent their experiences both at a particular point in time and over time. By revisiting the same children over time, we explore how transitions are interrelated; looking, for example, at how one process of change (such as early marriage) creates or cuts off opportunities for transition in other areas (such as educational attainment), and how this affects what children consider imaginable, possible and desirable for their lives.

Transitions are not fixed pathways or ‘steps’ in the life-course through which individual children pass, but processes of change in relation to both settings and identities: a change in one area may have a ripple effect onto others. Nor do transitions necessarily mean discontinuity. Children look forward to certain transitions and view them as windows of opportunity, for example, to make new friends or to enhance their status within their peer group.

Children and their caregivers, service providers and community leaders may have different views on the importance specific events have on children’s well-being and future lives, and what is needed to make these changes. What is normal and appropriate, in general, and what is normal and appropriate for an individual child can vary. Age, gender, class and caste all shape expectations and experiences.

We are interested in the changes children have experienced, and those they anticipate in their near and not-so-near future. Young Lives children are not just ‘poor’; they are social actors with aspirations beyond simply getting out of poverty. Our findings will be able to explain their diverging pathways.