The Timing of Puberty and Gender Differences in Educational Achievement

Kristian Koerselman and Tuomas Pekkarinen

No 10889, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: In this paper, we study the effect of the timing of puberty on educational achievement and examine to what extent the gender differences in the timing of puberty can explain gender differences in achievement. We use British cohort data that combine information on pubertal development with test scores, behavioral outcomes as well as final educational attainment and earnings. Controlling for age 7 cognitive skills and family background, we show that late pubertal development is associated with a slower rate of cognitive skill growth during adolescence. This disadvantage in cognitive development is also reflected in lower levels of educational attainment and earnings for late developed individuals. The number of late developing boys is however too small to explain more than a fraction of the gender gap in educational outcomes. Furthermore, we find no effects on self-discipline or other behavioral outcomes in adolescence, suggesting a mechanism wholly separate from other causes of the gender gap.

Keywords: education; gender; adolescence; puberty; cognitive skills; non-cognitive skills; attainment; earnings (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I20 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2017-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gen, nep-lab and nep-neu
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Working Paper: The timing of puberty and gender differences in educational achievement (2017)
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