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Survey attrition after 15 years of tracking children in four developing countries: The Young Lives study

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  • Alan Sánchez
  • Javier Escobal

Abstract

Young Lives (YL) is a multicountry, birth cohort study that, over a period of 15 years, followed nearly 8,000 individuals born in 2001–2002 and 4,000 individuals born in 1994–1995 in Ethiopia, India (states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana), Peru, and Vietnam. This study aims to document attrition in the YL samples, to identify the correlates of attrition, and to test for attrition bias. The cumulative year‐to‐year attrition rate is 0.5% and 0.8% for the younger and older cohorts, respectively, among the lowest attrition rates in longitudinal studies in low‐ and middle‐income countries. Attrition rates vary by household wealth, area of residence, and ethnicity/caste across countries. Attrited individuals in Peru are poor and those in other countries are wealthier. When analyzing a set of nutritional and cognitive outcomes, suggestive evidence of attrition bias exists, part of which is driven by child mortality. Even though attrition is very low, our findings highlight the importance of controlling for household socioeconomic characteristics when performing statistical analysis of the YL samples. The study also highlights key insights that can be helpful to reduce attrition or ameliorate its effects in other longitudinal studies.

Suggested Citation

  • Alan Sánchez & Javier Escobal, 2020. "Survey attrition after 15 years of tracking children in four developing countries: The Young Lives study," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(4), pages 1196-1216, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:rdevec:v:24:y:2020:i:4:p:1196-1216
    DOI: 10.1111/rode.12660
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    1. Favara, Marta & Freund, Richard & Perez-Alvarez, Marcello, 2023. "What If It Never Happened? Subjective Treatment Effects of a Negative Shock on Youth Labour Market Outcomes in Developing Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 16417, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Richard Freund & Marta Favara & Catherine Porter & Jere Behrman, 2022. "Social protection and foundational cognitive skills during adolescence: evidence from a large Public Works Programme," PIER Working Paper Archive 22-022, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania.
    3. Nicolas Pazos & Marta Favara & Alan Sánchez & Douglas Scott & Jere Behrman, 2022. "Long-term effects of rainfall shocks on foundational cognitive skills: Evidence from Peru," PIER Working Paper Archive 23-001, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania.
    4. Richard Freund, 2023. "From drought to distress: unpacking the mental health effects of water scarcity," CSAE Working Paper Series 2023-07, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    5. Freund, Richard & Favara, Marta & Porter, Catherine & Scott, Douglas & Thuc, Duc Le, 2022. "The Mental Cost of Job Loss: Assessing the Impact on Young Adults in Vietnam," IZA Discussion Papers 15522, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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