Work

The Long-Run Effects of Peers on Mental Health

Year: 2022

Type: article

Abstract: This paper studies how peers in school affect students’ mental health. Guided by a theoretical framework, we find that increasing students’ relative ranks in their cohorts by one standard deviation improves their mental health by 6% of a standard deviation conditional on own ability. These effects are more pronounced for low-ability students, persistent for at least 14 years and carry over to economic long-run outcomes. Moreover, we document a pronounced asymmetry: Students who receive negative rather than positive shocks react more strongly. Our findings therefore provide evidence on how the school environment can have long-lasting consequences for individuals’ well-being.

Source: The Economic Journal

DOI: 10.1093/ej/ueac039

Authors: Lukas Kiessling, Jonathan Norris

Institutions: Max Planck Society, Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Economics, University of Strathclyde

Language: English

Topic: School Choice and Performance

Subfield: Education

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Good health and well-being, Quality education, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: green

Funders: Gillings School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development