Adolescent Pathways and Responsibilities

Résumé du livre

Much of what we know about adolescence is based on research from high-income countries, but what is life like for teenagers growing up in low- and middle-income countries? For young people living in adversity, adolescence is a time of growth and change, and also a period of multiple, sometimes conflicting responsibilities. Adolescent Pathways and Responsibilities examines how poverty, geographical location, and social exclusion affect the timing and the consequences of key transitions in the lives of young people, as well as the fundamental role that gender plays in shaping children's imagined futures and current investments and opportunities. Drawing on in-depth interviews with children and their families carried out over fifteen years, this book explores adolescents' hopes for the future and the hard choices that their families make in the face of poverty and risk. The authors challenge policy makers to do the following: invest in schooling and health services which enable adolescents to sustain their learning and development; protect families with older children against the impact of hardship; address everyday violence; understand how gender and poverty combine to shape the opportunities of both girls and boys in adolescence as they leave school and enter young adulthood.