Do high aspirations lead to better outcomes? Evidence from a longitudinal survey of adolescents in Peru

Mental health among adolescents exposed to social inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean: a scoping review

Background and objective

Adolescents from Latin America and the Caribbean grow up in a context of social inequality, which diminishes their well-being and leads to impaired emotional-cognitive development. To understand the problem, it is important to synthesize the available research about it. This study aims to explore the knowledge about adolescents' mental health in Latin America and the Caribbean exposed to social inequality.

Methods

A systematic scoping review was conducted encompassing a search in five databases (Medline, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Scopus, and LILACS) in June 2022. Articles of various typologies were included without time limit. After two rounds of screening, relevant data were manually extracted and synthesized into self-constructed themes using thematic analysis.

Results

Out of 8,825 retrieved records, 42 papers were included in the final review, with a predominance of quantitative approaches. The synthesis revealed two main analytical themes: (a) defining social inequality, wherein intersecting inequalities produce discrimination and determine conditions for social vulnerability; (b) social inequality and mental health, which highlights the association between socio-structural difficulties and emotional problems, amplifying vulnerability to mental ill health and poor mental health care.

Conclusion

The scientific evidence reveals that social inequality is related to impaired well-being and mental ill health on the one hand and a lack of access to mental health care on the other hand.

Effect of Education on the Economic Income of Households in Peru, Application of the Mincer Theory in Times of Pandemic (COVID-19)

The objective was to determine the effect of education on the economic income of households in Peru in times of the pandemic (COVID-19), for which a quantitative research approach was applied, of a non-experimental type and of descriptive-correlational design; the econometric model of log-linear type was used, based on the Mincer equation, with the information from the database of the National Household Survey, for the period of 2021. The economic income on average was 275.96 soles, with a standard deviation of 1451.41 soles, with high variability, identifying very precarious economic income ranging from 15.00 to 15,000.00 soles/month per worker; the years of schooling of the worker on average were 12 years, showing the scope of complete secondary training, with a population without years of education, and on the contrary, there are workers with postgraduate education, with the variability of 4 years. Finally, the effect of education measured through years of schooling on economic income is positive, or direct, since education explains 14.34% of economic income; the experience of the worker, gender, area of residence, age and marital status, in the same way, have a positive effect on economic income, strongly highlighting gender and area of residence which explain 19.86% and 30.45% of the economic income in the household in Peru.