Does Classroom Gender Composition Shape Risk-Taking and Willingness to Compete?

Olivér Ujvárossy () and Hubert János Kiss ()
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Olivér Ujvárossy: ELTE Centre for Economic and Regional Studies
Hubert János Kiss: ELTE Centre for Economic and Regional Studies; Corvinus University of Budapest

No 2612, KRTK-KTI WORKING PAPERS from Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies

Abstract: We study whether classroom gender composition is associated with adolescents' risk-taking and willingness to compete. Using lab-in-the-field data from 1,108 students in 53 classes from nine Hungarian secondary schools, we relate incentivized measures of both outcomes to the share of girls in the class. School fixed effects compare students across classes within the same school, and we interpret these comparisons as conditional associations because class composition is not randomly assigned. Student-level regressions show robust gender gaps: girls are less risk-taking and less willing to compete than boys. Classroom gender composition, however, is not systematically associated with either outcome. Flexible specifications and analyses of boys and class-level gender gaps likewise reveal no consistent pattern.

Keywords: Gender composition; Risk-taking; Willingness to compete; Classroom peers; Adolescents (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C80 C90 D91 I21 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-09
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