Poster #30 - Experiences of poverty in rural and urban areas in developing countries

• In Event: 2-001 - Poster Session 1 during Breakfast

Abstract

In recent decades, poverty has become more urbanized in the developing world, yet in many countries in Africa and Asia, the majority of poor families still live in rural settings (Clifton, 2015). Research conducted primarily in the U.S. suggests that poverty and urbanicity interface in complex ways to shape children’s development, with children in large urban settings scoring below their counterparts in rural communities when it comes to academic achievement (Miller et al., 2013). In the developing world, there is some evidence to suggest that patterns differ, with children growing up in rural areas faring worse than their urban counterparts on education and health (Clifton, 2015; Smith et al, 2005). Understanding rural–urban disparities in poor children’s development is essential for informing efforts aimed at enhancing children’s outcomes in the developing world. Thus, this study proposes to examine urbanicity related differences in child outcomes in developing countries and consider whether family expenditures are differentially related to children’s development in rural and urban settings. Additionally, it will examine a range of family, school, and community characteristics that may explain the rural-urban gaps in child development. The present study draws data from the Young Lives Study, a multi-method investigation following economically disadvantaged children from 2002 to 2017 in four different countries: India (N=2,011), Ethiopia (N=1,999), Peru (N=2,052), and Vietnam (N=2,000). The data include comprehensive measures of children’s health and academic outcomes and detailed information about time use, family, school, and community characteristics.
Preliminary analyses of receptive vocabulary (measured by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test) and a self-report of reading problems are presented in Tables 1 and 2, respectively. Results indicate that the urban-rural gap favour urban children, often exceeding gaps related to family expenditures. Results of interactions show that the link between expenditures and children’s development differ by country across rural and urban settings. In Peru and Ethiopia, associations between household expenditures and academic achievement are larger in urban areas than in rural settings (Table 1). Similarly, the link between expenditures and reading problems is larger in urban settings compared to rural areas in Ethiopia, but it is smaller in urban contexts in Vietnam. Subsequent analyses will consider a range of child, family, community, and school factors that may underlie differences in low-income children’s development across urban and rural communities. This study will provide important information for policies aimed at improving the life chances of low-income children in developing countries.

Authors

• Laura Betancur, University of Pittsburgh
  Presenting Author

• Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal, University of Pittsburgh

• Portia Miller, University of Pittsburgh