IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0258416.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Unravelling adolescent girls’ aspirations in Nepal: Status and associations with individual-, household-, and community-level characteristics

Author

Listed:
  • Dónya S Madjdian
  • Kenda Cunningham
  • Hilde Bras
  • Maria Koelen
  • Lenneke Vaandrager
  • Ramesh P Adhikari
  • Elise F Talsma

Abstract

Background: Adolescents’ aspirations have potential to influence their present and future well-being. Limited knowledge exists on adolescent girls’ aspirations and their determinants, particularly in low-income contexts. Methods and findings: Using cross-sectional data, collected in 2018 in Nepal, within the Suaahara II Adolescent Panel Survey, (n = 840), adolescent girls’ aspirations in several domains—education, occupation, marriage, fertility, health, and nutrition–were described. Regression models were estimated to explore associations between individual, household and community characteristics and these aspirations for all adolescents and separately for younger (10–14 years) and older (15–19 years) girls. Age, school attendance, and self-efficacy, as well as household wealth, caste/ethnicity, size, and agro-ecological zone of residence were significantly associated with aspirations, although effect sizes and significance varied by aspiration domain and age group. Conclusions: Findings underscore the curtailing effect of poverty on aspirations and the dynamic nature of aspirations. Initiatives to foster girls’ aspirations must address both individual and contextual factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Dónya S Madjdian & Kenda Cunningham & Hilde Bras & Maria Koelen & Lenneke Vaandrager & Ramesh P Adhikari & Elise F Talsma, 2021. "Unravelling adolescent girls’ aspirations in Nepal: Status and associations with individual-, household-, and community-level characteristics," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(11), pages 1-22, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0258416
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258416
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0258416
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0258416&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0258416?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pasquier-Doumer, Laure & Risso Brandon, Fiorella, 2015. "Aspiration Failure: A Poverty Trap for Indigenous Children in Peru?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 208-223.
    2. Travis J. Lybbert & Bruce Wydick, 2018. "Poverty, Aspirations, and the Economics of Hope," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 66(4), pages 709-753.
    3. Bernard, Tanguy & Dercon, Stefan & Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum, 2011. "Beyond fatalism: An empirical exploration of self-efficacy and aspirations failure in Ethiopia," IFPRI discussion papers 1101, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    4. repec:dau:papers:123456789/12016 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Patricio S. Dalton & Sayantan Ghosal & Anandi Mani, 2016. "Poverty and Aspirations Failure," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(590), pages 165-188, February.
    6. Rao, Nitya & Singh, Chandni & Solomon, Divya & Camfield, Laura & Sidiki, Rahina & Angula, Margaret & Poonacha, Prathigna & Sidibé, Amadou & Lawson, Elaine T., 2020. "Managing risk, changing aspirations and household dynamics: Implications for wellbeing and adaptation in semi-arid Africa and India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ross, Phillip H. & Glewwe, Paul & Prudencio, Daniel & Wydick, Bruce, 2021. "Developing educational and vocational aspirations through international child sponsorship: Evidence from Kenya, Indonesia, and Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    2. Tabe-Ojong, Martin Paul Jr & Heckelei, Thomas & Baylis, Kathy, 2020. "Collective action and smallholder rural households: Implications for income and asset aspirations," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304580, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Cazzuffi, Chiara & Díaz, Vivián & Fernández, Juan & Leyton, Cristian, 2020. "Spatial inequality and aspirations for economic inclusion among Latin American youth," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    4. Tabe-Ojong, Martin Paul Jr., 2022. "Ecological shocks and non-cognitive skills: Evidence from Kenya," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    5. Sung Soo Lim, 2020. "The Effects of Chronic Illness on Aspirations and Subjective Wellbeing," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(5), pages 1771-1793, June.
    6. Tabe-Ojong, Martin Paul Jr. & Heckelei, Thomas & Baylis, Kathy & Rasch, Sebastian, 2023. "Cooperative membership and exposure to role models: Implications for income and asset aspirations," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    7. Pieter Serneels & Stefan Dercon, 2021. "Aspirations, Poverty, and Education. Evidence from India," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(1), pages 163-183, January.
    8. Jeffrey R. Bloem, 2021. "Aspirations and investments in rural Myanmar," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 19(4), pages 727-752, December.
    9. Laura Camfield & Awae Masae & J. McGregor & Buapun Promphaking, 2013. "Cultures of Aspiration and Poverty? Aspirational Inequalities in Northeast and Southern Thailand," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 114(3), pages 1049-1072, December.
    10. Mekonnen, Daniel & Gerber, Nicolas, 2015. "The Effect of Aspirations on Agricultural Innovations in Rural Ethiopia," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211680, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    11. Mekonnen, Daniel Ayalew, 2016. "Social Interactions and Aspirations Formation in Rural Ethiopia," Discussion Papers 250150, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    12. Garima Sahai, 2024. "Do job aspirations cause job choice? Insights from women entering male‐dominated occupational training in India," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 42(2), March.
    13. Seemanti Ghosh, 2020. "Can enhancing consciousness of control ideology mitigate the impact of poverty on perseverance?," Working Papers 2020_22, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    14. Martini, Christina & Ibañez Diaz, Marcela & Khadjavi, Menusch, 2021. "Community Aspirations and Collective Action," GlobalFood Discussion Papers 309651, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, GlobalFood, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development.
    15. Marcus Böhme, 2015. "Migration and educational aspirations – Another channel of brain gain?," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-24, December.
    16. Ross, Phillip H., 2019. "Occupation aspirations, education investment, and cognitive outcomes: Evidence from Indian adolescents," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 1-1.
    17. Janzen, Sarah A. & Magnan, Nicholas & Sharma, Sudhindra & Thompson, William M., 2017. "Aspirations failure and formation in rural Nepal," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 1-25.
    18. Daniel Ayalew Mekonnen & Nicolas Gerber, 2017. "Aspirations and food security in rural Ethiopia," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 9(2), pages 371-385, April.
    19. Martin Paul Jr. Tabe‐Ojong & Thomas Heckelei & Sebastian Rasch, 2023. "Aspirations and investments in livestock: Evidence of aspiration failure in Kenya," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 54(5), pages 674-696, September.
    20. Seemanti Ghosh, 2020. "Development of locus of control: A comparison between adolescents from middle- and lower-socioeconomic class," Working Papers 2020_23, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0258416. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.