A growing body of research suggests that orphanhood and fostering might be (independently) associated with educational disadvantage in sub-Saharan Africa. However, literature on the impacts of orphanhood and fostering on school enrolment, attendance and progress produces equivocal, and often conflicting, results. This paper reports on quantitative and qualitative data from sixteen field-sites in Ghana and Malawi, highlighting the importance of historical and social context in shaping schooling outcomes for fostered and orphaned children. In Malawi, which has been particularly badly affected by AIDS, orphans were less likely to be enrolled in and attending school than other children. By contrast, in Ghana, with its long tradition of ‘kinship fostering’, orphans were not significantly educationally disadvantaged; instead, non-orphaned, purposively fostered children had lower school enrolment and attendance than their peers. Understanding the context of orphanhood and fostering in relation to schooling is crucial in achieving ‘Education for All’.

There are substantial regional disparities in under-five mortality in Nigeria, and evidence suggests that both individual- and community-level characteristics have an influence on health outcomes. Using 2008 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey data, this study (1) examines the effects of individual- and community-level characteristics on infant/child mortality in Nigeria and (2) determines the extent to which characteristics at these levels influence regional variations in infant/child mortality in the country. Multilevel Cox proportional hazard analysis was performed on a nationally representative sample of 28,647 children nested within 18,028 mothers of reproductive age, who were also nested within 886 communities. The results indicate that community-level variables (such as region, place of residence, community infrastructure, community hospital delivery and community poverty level) and individual-level factors (including child's sex, birth order, birth interval, maternal education, maternal age and wealth index) are important determinants of infant/child mortality in Nigeria. For instance, the results show a lower risk of death in infancy for children of mothers residing in communities with a high proportion of hospital delivery (HR: 0.70, p<0.05) and for children whose mothers had secondary or higher education (HR: 0.84, p<0.05). Although community factors appear to influence the association between individual-level factors and death during infancy and childhood, the findings consistently indicate that community-level characteristics are more important in explaining regional variations in child mortality, while individual-level factors are more important for regional variations in infant mortality. The results of this study underscore the need to look beyond the influence of individual-level factors in addressing regional variations in infant and child mortality in Nigeria.

Childhood adversity has been associated with accelerated menarcheal and reproductive timing in females. The relationship between family- and neighbourhood-level measures of childhood adversity, menarcheal timing and intended reproductive timing was investigated in a sample of 354 English adolescent girls. The data were collected from March to June 2012. In total 90 of the participants had reached menarche. Frequent residential relocations increased the likelihood of reaching menarche (HR 1.11; 95%CI 1.02–1.22). Girls who had moved house one to four times or five or more times, were respectively, more than twice (HR 2.14; 95%CI 1.23–3.73) and more than three times (HR 3.20; 95%CI 1.44–7.10) as likely to have reached menarche than girls who had never moved house. Frequent residential relocations were associated with stepfather co-residence, increased number of half/stepsiblings and reduced feelings of family support. Menarche was also accelerated by the presence of half/stepsisters. There was no relationship between menarcheal timing and intended reproductive timing. Frequent residential relocations may indicate instability in a young person's life, which is often outside of their control. Extending childhood adversity measures to include residential relocations could be important in better understanding the role early life events play in accelerating menarche.

The aim of this study was to determine abdominal obesity risk factors in two successive cohorts of children and adolescents aged 4–18 from Cracow, Poland, examined during the years of political transformation. The influence of biological, socio-demographic and lifestyle factors on abdominal obesity was analysed by calculating odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals using logistic regression analysis. It was found that for girls obesity in both parents (OR=4.31; 95% CI 1.73–20.70) and high birth weight (OR=1.78; 95% CI 1.12–2.82) were significant risk factors for abdominal obesity in the 1983 cohort. In the 2000 cohort obesity in both parents for boys and girls (boys: OR=5.85; 95% CI 1.36–25.10; girls: OR=4.82; 95% CI 1.17–19.77), low level of parental education in girls (OR=2.06; 95% CI 1.15–3.69), having only one son (OR=1.96; 95% CI 1.36–3.40), parents' smoking habits in girls (OR=2.94; 95% CI 1.46–5.91) and lack of undertaking physical activity in sport clubs in boys (OR=6.11; 95% CI 1.46–25.47) were significant abdominal obesity risk factors. Higher number of hours of leisure time physical activity (OR=0.89; 95% CI 0.81–0.97) significantly lowered the risk of abdominal obesity in boys in the 2000 cohort. The greater differentiation of abdominal obesity risk factors in the 2000 cohort in comparison to the 1983 cohort may have resulted from the social and economic changes taking place in Poland at the end of the 20th century.

Body mass index (BMI) levels in US children and adolescents have increased over the past several decades. The negative health effects of this trend are well-documented. Recent work has evaluated the potential effects on skills formation. Studies are mixed on whether there is an association between high BMI and skills outcomes, and those that estimate causal effects find none. This paper offers estimates on the causal effect of BMI-defined overweight and obesity on skills formation using two large cohorts of contemporary US children followed from infancy to 5 years and from kindergarten (6 years) to the eighth grade (14 years). Significant negative associations were observed in the random effects models for males in early life with respect to a mental skills assessment, for females during the pre-school years for reading and maths assessments, for both males and females during the schooling years for reading assessments and for females during the schooling years for maths assessments. Fixed effects models yielded a significant negative association only with respect to the latter. The implication of these findings is that any improvement in skills outcomes that may accompany reductions in obesity prevalence may depend on whether interventions are general to overall health productivity or whether they are specific to dietary and exercise behaviours.

This paper examines the effect of orphanhood and HIV status of adults in a household on onset of sexual activity among adolescent girls and boys aged 15–17 years in sub-Saharan Africa. Multilevel logistic regression models were applied to pooled Demographic and Health Surveys data from nineteen countries of sub-Saharan Africa where HIV test data were collected during 2003–2008 from nationally representative samples of men and women of reproductive age. The results highlight increased vulnerability among adolescent boys and girls living in households where an adult is infected with HIV, and adolescent boys who are paternal orphans. On average, adolescent boys and girls living in households where at least one adult is HIV-positive have about 25% higher odds of having initiated sexual activity compared with their counterparts of similar characteristics in households where no adult is HIV-positive. Furthermore, adolescent boys who are paternal orphans have about 25% higher odds of having initiated sexual activity than their non-orphan counterparts of similar individual characteristics. Further analysis reveals that household circumstances relating to living arrangements and poverty are important pathways through which household HIV/AIDS status is linked to adolescent sexual debut. The findings underscore the importance of international efforts in the sub-Saharan Africa region to address the plight of other children in HIV/AIDS-affected households, beyond orphans.

This paper examines fertility transition in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and second-largest city in sub-Saharan Africa. Shapiro (1996) documented the onset of fertility transition in the city, using data from 1990. Women's education was strongly inversely related to fertility, beginning with secondary schooling, and increases in women's education were important in initiating fertility transition in the city. The paper uses data from the 2007 Demographic and Health Survey in the DRC to examine fertility in Kinshasa and assess fertility transition since 1990, a period characterized by severe adverse economic conditions in the DRC. Fertility transition has continued at a strong pace. In part this reflects increased educational attainment of women, but it appears also to be largely a consequence of enduring economic hardship. The ongoing fertility decline has been accompanied by substantial delays in entry to marriage and childbearing, reflecting adverse economic conditions, which in turn have contributed to continuing declines in fertility.

In countries where age at parenthood has shifted to older ages, a necessary precondition for fertility recuperation is that women having their first child later in life (after age 30) will also eventually achieve a higher completed fertility, compared with the previous cohorts. This study analysed the changes in age-at-first-child-conditional fertility rates in Western Europe through three birth cohorts (1936–1940, 1946–1950 and 1956–1960). It was found that generations where recuperation is first evident (1956–1960 cohort) are characterized by comparatively higher fertility of late age-at-first-child women. This characteristic is not found in Eastern Europe, where ages at first birth and cohort fertility remained fairly constant across the cohorts analysed.