The primary reasons can be found in the family environment, according to economists Tarsicio Castaņeda and Enrique Aldaz-Carroll in a study distributed at a seminar on investing in childhood development held last March in Paris in conjunction with the IDB's annual meeting.

In their examination of the family background of persons aged 20 24 years in 16 Latin American countries, Castaņeda and Aldaz found that the higher the number of siblings, the lower the chances for completing secondary school. In several countries, the sibling factor was important only in low-income households.

They further found that in nearly all countries, the mother's education, no matter how modest, significatively increases the likelihood that a child will complete secondary school. The educational attainment of the father was found to have considerably less impact. In addition, in nearly all countries, girls were found to complete secondary school at a higher rate than boys.

Other major factors were, as expected, household income and place of residence. In most countries, the probability of a child completing secondary school is over twice as high in urban areas than in rural ones, although the effect was less noticeable in better off families.
Castaņeda and Aldaz concluded that the family should be a focus of programs to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty. They cited as a model Mexico's Progresa program, which integrates education, health and nutrition (including reproductive health measures that support family planning), and income support. Since such integrated programs are expensive, the authors urge that beneficiaries must be carefully targeted.

--Roger Hamilton