Young People's Decision Making Involvement and Educational Attainment

Increasing participation in family decision making is an integral part of adolescent development. This paper uses longitudinal data from four low and middle income countries-Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam-to assess the relationship between young people's involvement in schooling decision making and schooling outcomes. In the pooled sample, compared to young adults who indicate to have no say in educational choices at age 19, adolescents who make these decisions unilaterally or jointly with parents are on average 17%-23% more likely to drop out by age 22. The effects are, however, heterogenous across countries.