Living conditions and child development: Generation of an Aggregate Index of Ecological Dimensions

SEGRETIN, M.S.; NACHON, J.I.; PETETTA D.R.; LIPINA S.J.

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Conferencia; Society for the Study of Human Development (SSHD) 2021-2022. Conference Series.; 2022

Society for the Study of Human Development (SSHD)

Introduction: In recent decades, our understanding of the relationships between living conditions and different developmental attributes during childhood has been deepened. In particular, evidence suggests that the emergence and development of cognitive and socio-emotional competencies follow different trajectories that are susceptible to the quality of the developmental contexts (e.g., home, school, neighborhoods; Lipina & Colombo, 2009). In regards to the study of the impact of living conditions on child development, it has been noticed that there is a need to consider other dimensions rather than only the most frequent SES and educational ones (e.g., Lipina, 2016; Felner, & DeVries, 2012). In this sense, the aim of the present work is to generate an index of living conditions that reflects an ecological perspective (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) and that aids in the identification of different profiles of children?s strengths and risks for development. Methods: Data from the first round of the Young Lives project (http://www.younglives.org.uk) in Peru was considered and analyzed (N= 2051; Mean age=11.54, SD=3,54; 50% female). First, a set of variables were identified and classified into different dimensions in accordance with the ecological definitions of developmental contexts proposed by Bronfenbrenner. Then, each indicator and dimension was defined and weighted considering the maximum value of each variable, the total number of indicators in each dimension, and the number of dimensions. Finally, a general index (i.e., Aggregate Index of Ecological Dimensions, AIED) was calculated by adding the dimension?s values. After validating our procedures, descriptive statistics were performed, and the AIED was compared to the Wealth index proposed by Young Lives. Results and Conclusions: The AIED included 36 indicators within six ecological dimensions (i.e., ontosystem, microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem). Significant differences were founded between urban and rural subsamples (Z=-6,68, p