Peer gender and mental health
(2022) In Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 197. p.643-659- Abstract
Adolescent mental health is key for later well-being. Yet, causal evidence on environmental drivers of adolescent mental health is scant. We study how an important classroom feature—the gender composition in compulsory-school—affects mental health. We use Swedish administrative data (N = 576,285) to link variation in gender composition across classrooms within cohorts to mental health. We find that a higher share of female peers in a classroom increases the incidence of mental health diagnoses, particularly among boys. The effect persists into adulthood. Peer composition is thus an important and persistent driver of mental health.
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https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/6a28e85f-6e32-419e-bda8-8b7235534627
- author
- Getik, Demid LU and Meier, Armando N.
- organization
- publishing date
- 2022-05
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Gender, Mental health, Peer effects, School
- in
- Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
- volume
- 197
- pages
- 17 pages
- publisher
- Elsevier
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85127347680
- ISSN
- 0167-2681
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.jebo.2022.03.014
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 6a28e85f-6e32-419e-bda8-8b7235534627
- date added to LUP
- 2022-05-03 15:49:19
- date last changed
- 2022-05-03 15:49:19
@article{6a28e85f-6e32-419e-bda8-8b7235534627,
abstract = {{<p>Adolescent mental health is key for later well-being. Yet, causal evidence on environmental drivers of adolescent mental health is scant. We study how an important classroom feature—the gender composition in compulsory-school—affects mental health. We use Swedish administrative data (N = 576,285) to link variation in gender composition across classrooms within cohorts to mental health. We find that a higher share of female peers in a classroom increases the incidence of mental health diagnoses, particularly among boys. The effect persists into adulthood. Peer composition is thus an important and persistent driver of mental health.</p>}},
author = {{Getik, Demid and Meier, Armando N.}},
issn = {{0167-2681}},
keywords = {{Gender; Mental health; Peer effects; School}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{643--659}},
publisher = {{Elsevier}},
series = {{Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization}},
title = {{Peer gender and mental health}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2022.03.014}},
doi = {{10.1016/j.jebo.2022.03.014}},
volume = {{197}},
year = {{2022}},
}