Born at the Right Time: Examining the Effect of Relative Age on Mental Health in Adulthood

Petri Böckerman (petri.bockerman@labour.fi), Mika Haapanen, Jani Kuhakoski, Tiina Kuuppelomäki (tiina.kuuppelomaki@labore.fi) and Juuso Villanen
Additional contact information
Jani Kuhakoski: LABORE Labour Institute for Economic Research
Tiina Kuuppelomäki: Labour Institute for Economic Research
Juuso Villanen: LABORE Labour Institute for Economic Research

No 17501, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper examines the understudied effect of relative age on mental health in adulthood. Our empirical analysis utilizes nationwide Finnish register-based data on mental health, encompassing a spectrum of conditions from severe to less severe mental health problems. To identity causal effects, we employ a regression discontinuity design centered around the January 1 cutoff. We find that being born at the start of the year leads to better mental health outcomes. Notably, these effects, primarily influenced by relative school starting age, are driven by women in their late twenties.

Keywords: relative age; mental health; education; school starting age; children (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 I14 I31 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2024-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp17501.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Born at the right time: Examining the effect of relative age on mental health in adulthood (2024)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17501

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
IZA, Margard Ody, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany
library@iza.org

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Holger Hinte (hinte@iza.org).