Table 2 Definitions of the variables

Dummy variable equal to 1 if she/he is ‘smoking at least once a month’ (or more frequently), and 0 otherwise. The survey question used is the following: ‘How often do you smoke cigarettes now?’.

Dummy variable equal to 1 if she/he has been drunk at least once in his/her life, and 0 otherwise. The survey question used is the following: ‘Have you ever been drunk from too much alcohol?’.

Dummy variable equal to 1 if she/he engaged in risky behaviours (got into fights/caused trouble, felt sick or fell over, have sex) while drinking and 0 otherwise (including also those who never drunk alcohol before). The survey questions used are the following: ‘During the past 12 months, how many of these things happened to you because you had been drinking alcohol?’ and ‘During your life, have you ever been drunk from alcohol while having sex?’.

Dummy variable equal to 1 if she/he has ever consumed any of the drugs listed before, 0 otherwise:

‘Have you ever tried any of the following drugs?’

Inhalants (terokal, gasoline, etc), Marijuana, Coca paste - PBC, Cocaine, Ecstasy, Methamphetamines, Hallucinogens (san pedro, ayahuasca, etc), Other drugs (crack, heroin, opium, ketamine, hashish, etc.)

Dummy variable equal to 1 if she/he did not use condoms in the last sexual relationship (or she/he used other birth control methods or emergency contraception) and 0 for those who used condom, or never had sex.

The survey questions used are the following:

‘The last time you had sex, what did you do to prevent getting pregnant or a disease?’

− We used a condom

− Drink infusion or mate

− Use after morning pill

− Use injections to prevent getting pregnant

− I don’t know if use any method

− We did not use any method

− Other method

An index measuring the intensity of criminal behaviour, defined by the sum of the following dummy variables: whether the YL child has carried a weapon in the last 30 days, ever been arrested by the police or taken into custody for an illegal or delinquent offense, ever been a member of a gang, or ever sentenced to spend time in a corrections institution such as a jail/prison/youth institution (juvenile hall, reform school, training school).

Dummy variable equal to 1 if she/he carried a weapon during the last 30 days and 0 otherwise.The survey question used is the following:‘During the last 30 days, on how many days did you carry a weapon such as a knife, machete or gun to be able to protect yourself?’

An index created to measure the intensity of risky behaviour and equal to the sum of all the dummy variables defined above (smoking, alcohol and drugs consumption, carrying weapons and having unprotected sex).

‘Imagine you had no constraints and could study for as long as you liked, or go back to school if you have already left. What level of formal education would you like to complete?’. Child’s educational aspirations are collected at the age of 12, 15 and 18. We define a dummy variable equal to 1 for those children with high aspirations (aspiring to university) and 0 otherwise.

This is the procedure adopted to compute the self-efficacy and self-esteem indicators: (i) all relevant questions are recoded to be positive outcomes, (ii) relevant questions are all normalized to z-scores (subtract mean and divide by SD) and then (iii) an average of the relevant z-scores is taken across the non-missing values of the questions. All the questions are on Likert-type scales going from 1 to 4 in Round 2 (R2) and from 1 to 5 in Round 3 (R3). The questions differs a little from round to rounds specified below.

If I try hard, I can improve my situation life

Other people in my family make all the decisions about how I spend my time

I like to make plans for my future studies and work

If I study hard at school I will be rewarded by a better job in future

I have no choice about the work I do - I must work

I feel proud to show my friends or other visitors where I live

I am ashamed of my clothes

I feel proud of the job my [caregiver/household head] does

I am often embarrassed because I do not have the right books, pencils and other equipment for school

I am proud of my achievements at school

I am ashamed of my shoes

I am worried that I don’t have the correct uniform

I am proud of the work I have to do

I feel my clothing is right for all occasions.

Dummy variable equal to 1 for boys and 0 for girls

Age in years

Dummy variable equal to 1 if the child’s household resides in rural areas and 0 otherwise

A dummy variable equal to 1 if he/she migrated between age 15 and 19 and 0 if at age 19 she/he still live in the same community as at age 19.

A composite measure of living standards. The variable takes values between 0 and 1, such that a larger value reflects a wealthier household. The wealth index is the simple average of three sub-indexes: a housing quality index (quality of floor, wall, roof and number of rooms per capita), an access to services index (access to drinking water, electricity, sewage and type of fuel used for cooking) and a consumer durables index (TV, radio, fridge, microwave, computer, etc.). In the analysis we use the wealth index segmented in tertiles: bottom, middle and top tertiles

Father’s and mother’s education, segmented into three categories for none or primary education (less than grade 8), secondary education (grade 10) and higher education (above grade 10) as their highest level of education completed

Dummy variable equal to 0 if she/he is living with both biological parents, and 1 if he/she is living with only one biological parent, the biological parent and his/her partner, or is an orphan

Dummy variable that indicates 1 if the YL child has ever delayed school enrollment and 0 if not

Standardized score for the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test by rounds

Standardized score for the Maths test by rounds