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Relative Age Effect on European Adolescents’ Social Network

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  • Fumarco, Luca
  • Baert, Stijn

Abstract

We contribute to the literature on relative age effects on pupils’ (non-cognitive) skills formation by studying students’ social network. We investigate data on European adolescents from the Health Behaviour in School Aged Children survey and use an instrumental variables approach to account for endogeneity of relative age while controlling for confounders, namely absolute age, season-of-birth, and family socio-economic status. We find robust evidence that suggests the existence of a substitution effect: the youngest students within a class e-communicate more frequently than relatively older classmates but have fewer friends and meet with them less frequently.

Suggested Citation

  • Fumarco, Luca & Baert, Stijn, 2018. "Relative Age Effect on European Adolescents’ Social Network," GLO Discussion Paper Series 277, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:glodps:277
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    Cited by:

    1. Tushar Bharati & Thea Harpley Green, 2021. "Age at school transition and children’s cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 21-06, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    2. Fumarco, L. & Baert, S. & Sarracino, F., 2020. "Younger, dissatisfied, and unhealthy – Relative age in adolescence," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    3. Neyt, Brecht & Verhaest, Dieter & Baert, Stijn, 2020. "The impact of dual apprenticeship programmes on early labour market outcomes: A dynamic approach," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    4. Fumarco Luca & Carlsson Magnus & Gibbs Benjamin G., 2020. "Erasmus Exchange Program – A Matter of (Relatively) Older Students," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 20(4), pages 1-14, October.
    5. By Stijn Baert & Brecht Neyt & Eddy Omey & Dieter Verhaest, 2022. "Student work during secondary education, educational achievement, and later employment: a dynamic approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(3), pages 1605-1635, September.
    6. Baert, Stijn & Neyt, Brecht & Omey, Eddy & Verhaest, Dieter, 2017. "Student Work, Educational Achievement, and Later Employment: A Dynamic Approach," IZA Discussion Papers 11127, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Peña, Pablo A., 2020. "Relative age and investment in human capital," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    8. Alar Urruticoechea & Andrés Oliveri & Elena Vernazza & Marta Giménez-Dasí & Rosario Martínez-Arias & Javier Martín-Babarro, 2021. "The Relative Age Effects in Educational Development: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-12, August.

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    Keywords

    Relative age; adolescents; education; Europe; social network;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

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