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Forced migration and cognitive well-being in childhood in India

the effect of forced migration during infancy on the cognitive well-being of the children at the age of 8 years, using
longitudinal data from the first, second and third waves of the Young Lives Study from Andhra Pradesh, India.

2. Data and Methods
2.1 Data

We used data from the first, second, and third waves of the Young Lives Study (YLS), conducted in the state of Andhra
Pradesh in India in 2002, 2006–2007 and 2009, respectively. The Young Lives Study is an international longitudinal
study investigating the changing nature of childhood poverty. About 12,000 children are being followed in four countries:
Ethiopia, Peru, Vietnam and India (Andhra Pradesh). Each country has two cohorts: younger cohort and older cohort. The
younger cohort consists of about 2,000 children born in 2001–2002, and the older cohort consists of about 1,000 children
born in 1994–1995 to be followed over a period of 15 years. The YLS is conducted every three/four years to collect data
on a range of indicators related to the growth and development of children. The YLS also collects information on child
welfare outcomes including nutritional status, growth, physical health, cognitive development, social and emotional well-
being, and educational development.
A multistage sampling design was adopted by the YLS in India. In the first stage, two districts were selected from each
of the three geographic regions (Coastal, Rayalaseema and Telangana) of the state of Andhra Pradesh. The selection of
the districts was based on their relative rankings on the economic, human, and infrastructure development fronts. In the
second stage, 19 (15 from rural areas and 4 from urban areas) sentinel sites (administrative blocks or ‘mandals’) were
selected from the six sampled districts. In addition, one sentinel site was selected from the urban slum of the city of
Hyderabad. In the third stage, villages were selected from the sampled rural sentinel sites and wards were selected from
the sampled urban sites. Each sentinel site was divided into four contiguous geographical areas, and one village was
randomly selected from each area. All the households with a one-year-old child (born in 2001–2002) or an eight-year-old
child (born in 1994–1995) in the selected villages and wards were included in the YLS. Overall, 2011 households (with
2011 children) in the younger cohort and 1008 households (with 1008 children) in the older cohort were included in the
first wave of the YLS, which was conducted in 2002 (for details of the YLS sampling design, please see Kumra, 2008).
The second wave took place between the late 2006 and the early 2007. Of the 2011 children (younger cohort)
surveyed in the first wave, 32 children had died, 7 (households) refused to continue with the study and 22 children were
untraceable. Hence, the second wave included only 1950 children. The third wave took place in 2009 and included 1930
children (of the 1950 children in Wave 2, 4 children had died, 5 (households) refused to continue with the study and 11
were untraceable) in the younger cohort. The attrition rate between Waves 1 and 2 was about 3% and between Waves 2
and 3 about 1% (Barnett et al., 2012).
We used data from each of the three waves of the YLS to examine the effect of forced migration on child cognitive
well-being. Of the 2011 children who were surveyed in the first wave, information on the migration status was available
for 1,913 children in Wave 3. However, the analytical sample size to investigate the effect of forced migration on child
cognitive well-being in terms of Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT), maths, Early Grade Reading Assessment
(EGRA), and memory scores was 1,845, 1,861, 1,864 and 1,875, respectively. Of the 1,913 children (for whom the
information on forced migration was available), the PPVT, maths, EGRA and memory tests could not be conducted for
29, 26 and 15 children respectively.
2.2 Outcome Variables

The outcome variables of interest were the scores attained by children on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT),
Maths Achievement Test, EGRA, and memory test. The information on each of the outcome variables–the PPVT, math,
EGRA, and memory scores–were collected during the third wave of the YLS (when the children were at age 8 years).
The PPVT is a very common and widely accepted assessment test for identifying the verbal abilities, learning
disabilities and scholastic aptitude among school-going children. The YLS uses version-III (204 items, Dunn et al., 1997)
to assess PPVT scores in India. We used the PPVT score in natural logarithmic units to model a potential non-linear
association between PPVT score and forced migration. Mathematics achievement test was used to identify children’s
sense of numbers. The maths test included 20 items on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The EGRA was
used to assess the ability to recognize letters of the alphabet, read simple words and understand sentences and paragraphs
and to assess listening comprehension. For details of the PPVT, maths test and the EGRA, see Cueto and Leon, 2012.

18 International Journal of Population Studies | 2017, Volume 3, Issue 2