In a study using data from Peru, researchers from Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences found that exposure to more traumatic events, or “shocks,” such as a natural disaster or loss of family income, early in life was associated with lower reading and vocabulary test scores in over time, as well as reduced food security.
The study was recently published in the journal Population Research and Policy Review.
Carolyn Reyes, a senior researcher at Public Wise who led the study and also earned a doctorate in rural sociology and demography at Penn State, said the findings could help guide policy aimed at minimizing the effects of shocks.
“As climate change leads to more frequent and severe weather events, and economic crises and ongoing pandemics continue to create challenges for families, it is critical that policies help minimize the impacts of these shocks,” Reyes said. “These types of initiatives could include unconditional cash transfers, expanding social protection and more affordable and widely available insurance programs.”
The researchers found that recent shocks were most strongly associated with negative learning outcomes and well-being. Specifically, 15-year-olds in Peru who had experienced shock in the past three to four years were more likely to have lower test scores, be less food secure, have poorer health, and spend more time doing housework.
Heather Randell, assistant professor of rural sociology and demography, said that while the study used data from Peru, the results could be applicable to populations around the world.
“The upheavals in the home that children experience can take an important toll on health and learning regardless of where they live,” Randell said. “For example, if a teen has to help care for a sibling or help their parents earn an income, it can take resources and attention away from school. This in turn can affect the amount of time a teen has to focus on school work, or it can force them out of school completely.”
According to the researchers, previous work has found that children are often more vulnerable to shocks than other household members. Young children can be particularly affected, whose shocks at an early age disrupt physical and cognitive development for years to come.
Children from rural households may face additional barriers due to environmental shocks. For example, if a drought causes a family to lose income due to dying crops, children may be forced to drop out of school to help find alternative income. Although school attendance has improved in recent decades, nearly one fifth of school-age children worldwide remained out of school in 2018.
While previous studies have found links between shocks and adverse educational outcomes, the researchers said many of those studies relied on cross-sectional data instead of following children over time, or examined the effects of only one or two types of shocks.
Reyes said she and Randell wanted to build on existing research by extending their study to examine the effects of different types of shocks on education and multiple measures of well-being over a 15-year period.
She added that Peru is an ideal setting for the study because of its high levels of poverty and inequality, and because a large portion of the population relies on agriculture as its main source of income.
“Peru is very vulnerable to environmental shocks such as earthquakes, floods and droughts,” Reyes said. “Additionally, a significant portion of the population is under the age of 18. All of these factors lead to a higher likelihood that children will experience concussions during their young lives.”
For the study, the researchers used data from the Long Lives Longitudinal Survey of 1,713 children from Peru over a 15-year period. Data from the last round, when the children were 15, included test results in reading, maths and vocabulary, information about their food security and health, and details of how much time they spent studying and doing housework.
The researchers also used data on shocks these households experienced in the years before the children turned 15. Shocks included economic or agricultural shocks such as job losses or crop failures; environmental shocks such as floods or earthquakes; and family shocks such as divorce or the death of a household member.
According to the researchers, there could be several explanations for the findings. For example, if floods destroy the crops of a family on which they depended for income, children may spend more time working for extra money instead of going to school or learning. Or, in the case of the death of a family member, the psychological effects can negatively affect school progress.
Reyes said that while the study focused on data from when the children were in their teenage years, the effects of multiple shocks early in life can persist for years.
“Because education and early work experiences are so important to future economic and social success, exposure to shocks could create circumstances that result in lifelong hardship,” she said. “Further research could explore the exact mechanisms of how these shocks affect school attendance and well-being, which could then help design targeted and effective interventions.”
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