Adolescents’ Mental Health and Human Capital: The Role of Socioeconomic Rank

Michaela Paffenholz ()

CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series from University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany

Abstract: I provide evidence on the causal effects of a student’s relative socioeconomic status during high school on their mental health and human capital development. Leveraging data from representative US high schools, I utilize between-cohort differences in the distributions of socioeconomic status within schools in a linear fixed effects model to identify a causal rank effect. I find that a higher rank during high school improves a student’s depression scores, cognitive ability, self-esteem and popularity. The rank effects are persistent with long-lasting consequences for adult depression and college attainment. Additional analyses emphasize the role of inequality in exacerbating these rank effects.

Keywords: mental health; rank; higher educa􀀂on (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I14 I23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 74
Date: 2024-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-hea and nep-ure
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