Peer gender and mental health⁎

Demid Getik and Armando N. Meier

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2022, vol. 197, issue C, 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.

Keywords: School; Gender; Peer effects; Mental health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I19 I21 I31 J16 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:197:y:2022:i:c:p:643-659

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2022.03.014

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