Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

The Persistent Effects of Short-Term Peer Groups in Higher Education

Thiemann, Petra LU (2018) In Working Papers
Abstract
This paper studies the persistent effects of short-term peer exposure in a college setting. I exploit the random assignment of undergraduates to peer groups during a mandatory orientation week and follow the students until graduation. High levels of peer ability in a group harm the students’ test scores and lead to increases in the probability of early dropout; this result is driven by the adverse effect of high-ability peers on low-ability students. I find suggestive evidence for discouragement effects: Peer ability is negatively correlated with the students’ confidence in their academic ability after the first week.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
keywords
peer effect, higher education, natural experiment, ability, educational attainment, dropout, major choice, I21, I23, J24
in
Working Papers
issue
2018:32
pages
48 pages
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ce415b17-a05a-4551-9efd-20ff48e33fa6
alternative location
https://swopec.hhs.se/lunewp/abs/lunewp2018_032.htm
date added to LUP
2018-11-19 16:45:22
date last changed
2018-11-21 21:43:26
@misc{ce415b17-a05a-4551-9efd-20ff48e33fa6,
  abstract     = {{This paper studies the persistent effects of short-term peer exposure in a college setting. I exploit the random assignment of undergraduates to peer groups during a mandatory orientation week and follow the students until graduation. High levels of peer ability in a group harm the students’ test scores and lead to increases in the probability of early dropout; this result is driven by the adverse effect of high-ability peers on low-ability students. I find suggestive evidence for discouragement effects: Peer ability is negatively correlated with the students’ confidence in their academic ability after the first week.}},
  author       = {{Thiemann, Petra}},
  keywords     = {{peer effect; higher education; natural experiment; ability; educational attainment; dropout; major choice; I21; I23; J24}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Working Paper}},
  number       = {{2018:32}},
  series       = {{Working Papers}},
  title        = {{The Persistent Effects of Short-Term Peer Groups in Higher Education}},
  url          = {{https://swopec.hhs.se/lunewp/abs/lunewp2018_032.htm}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}