BOCYF Projects

Panel on Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries

Publication: Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries

The transition to adulthood largely occurring during adolescence actually encompasses many important, and often concurrent, transitions: puberty, leaving school, initiating work, marriage and partner selection, initiating sexual activity, economic independence, and becoming recognized citizens. The timing of these transitions and their relation to each other are consequential in preparing adolescents for adulthood and shaping their futures. Understanding how the processes around these transitions operate is a fundamental requirement for sound knowledge of adolescence and for implementing effective policies and programs that improve the reproductive health of adolescents. How and where do adolescents get information? What opportunities and constraints do adolescents (or different groups of adolescents) face in various transitions to adulthood? Who has the greatest influence on adolescent activities and situations? Who makes the decisions that determine adolescents’ activities and behavior (and how does this shift)? How do various transitions relate to each other – e.g. How does education and work status affect age at marriage or sexual initiation, or vice versa?

Today’s adolescents have different opportunities than their parents or even adolescents of a decade or two ago. School attendance and attainment are increasing around the world. With rising levels of education, work and career development opportunities, particularly in informational, professional, and technical fields, are expanding. Globalization and changes in the media and information transfer increase adolescents’ exposure to possibilities, information, role models, images, and ideas that transcend geographic and cultural barriers. Additionally, the increasing age of marriage and childbearing in most developing countries translates into a longer period of time before marriage and childbearing, providing an opportunity for individuals to further develop skills, build their social capital, and gain schooling, work, and other experience to enhance their adult opportunities.

At the same time, adolescents also confront challenges unique to this historical time. In addition to enhancing prospects for personal investment, earlier ages of puberty and later ages of marriage increase adolescents’ exposure to the risk of sex, pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and childbearing outside of the context of marriage. How this reality continues to influence the decision-making framework and behavior of youth is unknown. We have little information about how adolescents in developing countries assess risk and how this is related to other decisions and activities in their lives. In fact, where at one time researchers assumed that adolescents ignore or heavily discount risk, some recent data indicate that adolescents now perceive themselves to be at enormous risk. How these perceptions influence their behavior and how these perceptions differ among various subgroups of adolescents is unknown.

Clearly there are a number of critical gaps in our knowledge of the transitions to adulthood in developing countries and related implications for policy and programming efforts including those surrounding reproductive health. In order to address these gaps, the Panel on Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries of the Committee on Population and the Board on Children, Youth, and Families synthesized recent work on these and other areas of transitions to adulthood in developing countries with a particular focus through on gender differences in transitions and identify the implications of this research for improving the reproductive health of adolescents through policy and program interventions. Specifically, the charge to the panel for this study was to:

This project was supported with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.