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Paper short abstract:

Our study examines how Peruvian adolescents adapt to multidimensional poverty using Young Lives project data. Those facing more deprivations report lower subjective well-being. Those leaving poverty show higher well-being than persistently poor individuals, aligning with Latin American research.

Paper long abstract:

The hypothesis of adaptive preferences remains a subject of debate among capabiliarian scholars, rooted in Amartya Sen's critiques of utility and subjective well-being evaluation. Our study explores subjective well-being adaptation to multidimensional poverty, focusing on adolescents in Peru, a middle-income country in Latin America. Using data from four waves of the Young Lives project spanning 2002 to 2013, we aim to scrutinize the extent to which Peruvian adolescents entrenched in contexts of multidimensional poverty adjust their subjective self-evaluations of life-as-a-whole amidst encounters with multiple concurrent deprivations.

The methodology underpinning our investigation entails the utilization of a Cantril scale to gauge adolescents' subjective well-being. This measure is juxtaposed with a comprehensive metric comprising nine distinct deprivation indicators strategically designed to capture the multifaceted nature of poverty, enabling a thorough examination of multidimensional poverty. Our analysis reveals a trend: individuals grappling with a higher number of deprivations consistently tend to report lower levels of subjective well-being. Additionally, a notable disparity in subjective well-being emerges between those who manage to transition out of poverty between periods and those who persistently remain in poverty for consecutive periods. Specifically, individuals who successfully extricate themselves from poverty exhibit significantly higher levels of subjective well-being, indicating a marked resistance to adaptation to the multidimensional deprivations experienced among the sampled adolescents.

This empirical finding aligns with previous research in various Latin American countries, including Chile and Uruguay. This congruence serves to bolster the proposition that individuals confronting multidimensional poverty are predisposed to resisting normalization or acceptance of their disadvantaged circumstances. Furthermore, our study introduces a novel aspect by incorporating a wealth index, meticulously capturing living conditions across three distinct dimensions. This innovative approach reveals a nuanced pattern: individuals slipping into poverty between periods consistently report lower levels of well-being compared to their counterparts who remain entrenched in poverty over successive periods. This subtle distinction suggests the presence of adaptive mechanisms at play among individuals grappling with persistent deprivation.

Our study represents a pioneering endeavor, leveraging longitudinal data to delve into the dynamics of subjective well-being adaptation within the context of multidimensional poverty in a middle-income country. By adopting a longitudinal approach, we contribute substantially to a deeper understanding of the nuanced responses exhibited by individuals confronting prolonged deprivation, thereby shedding invaluable insights into the complexities inherent in the assessment of subjective well-being within diverse socio-economic settings.