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The Girl Next Door: The Effect of Opposite Gender Friends on High School Achievement

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  • Andrew J. Hill

Abstract

This paper finds that a student's share of opposite gender school friends negatively affects high school GPA. It uses the gender composition of schoolmates in an individual's neighborhood as an instrument for the gender composition of an individual's self-reported friendship network. The effect occurs across all subjects for students older than 16, but only in mathematics and science for younger students. Additional results indicate effects may operate inside the classroom through difficulties getting along with the teacher and paying attention, and outside the classroom through romantic relationships. (JEL I21, J13, J16)

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew J. Hill, 2015. "The Girl Next Door: The Effect of Opposite Gender Friends on High School Achievement," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(3), pages 147-177, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejapp:v:7:y:2015:i:3:p:147-77
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/app.20140030
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Anne Ardila Brenøe & Ulf Zölitz, 2020. "Exposure to More Female Peers Widens the Gender Gap in STEM Participation," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 38(4), pages 1009-1054.
    2. Hill, Andrew J., 2017. "The positive influence of female college students on their male peers," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 151-160.
    3. Luca Paolo Merlino & Max Friedrich Steinhardt & Liam Wren-Lewis, 2019. "More than Just Friends? School Peers and Adult Interracial Relationships," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(3), pages 663-713.
    4. Getik, Demid & Meier, Armando N., 2022. "Peer gender and mental health⁎," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 643-659.
    5. Briole, Simon, 2021. "Are girls always good for boys? Short and long term effects of school peers’ gender," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    6. Ulf Zölitz & Jan Feld, 2021. "The Effect of Peer Gender on Major Choice in Business School," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(11), pages 6963-6979, November.
    7. Bhargava, Palaash & Chen, Daniel L. & Sutter, Matthias & Terrier, Camille, 2022. "Homophily and Transmission of Behavioral Traits in Social Networks," IZA Discussion Papers 15840, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Eleonora Matteazzi & Martina Menon & Federico Perali, 2021. "Do Boys and Girls Perform Better at Math Just Studying More ?," CHILD Working Papers Series 96 JEL Classification: I2, Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic Economics (CHILD) - CCA.
    9. Seul-Ki Kim & Young-Chul Kim, 2021. "Coed vs Single-Sex Schooling: An Empirical Study on Mental Health Outcomes," Working Papers 2103, Nam Duck-Woo Economic Research Institute, Sogang University (Former Research Institute for Market Economy).
    10. Laura Cyron & Guido Schwerdt & Martina Viarengo, 2017. "The effect of opposite sex siblings on cognitive and noncognitive skills in early childhood," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(19), pages 1369-1373, November.
    11. Kiss David, 2017. "A Model about the Impact of Ability Grouping on Student Achievement," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 17(3), pages 1-10, July.
    12. Kelly Foley, 2019. "The gender gap in university enrolment: Do parents play a role beyond investing in skills?," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(2), pages 441-489, May.
    13. Martin, Darius D. & Wright, Adam C. & Krieg, John M., 2020. "Social networks and college performance: Evidence from dining data," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    14. Getik, Demid & Meier, Armando N., 2020. "Peer Gender and Mental Health," Working papers 2020/15, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    15. Luo, Yiyang & Yang, Songtao, 2023. "Gender peer effects on students’ educational and occupational expectations," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    16. Dustmann, Christian & Ku, Hyejin & Kwak, Do Won, 2018. "Why Are Single-Sex Schools Successful?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 79-99.
    17. Carlos Díaz & Eleonora Patacchini, 2023. "Parents, neighbors and youth crime," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 673-692, June.
    18. Caetano, Gregorio & Maheshri, Vikram, 2019. "Gender segregation within neighborhoods," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 253-263.
    19. Hu, Feng, 2015. "Do girl peers improve your academic performance?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 54-58.
    20. Wang, Muwen, 2023. "Opposite-gender friendships and learning performance of students: Evidence from China," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    21. Díaz, Carlos & Patacchini, Eleonora, 2020. "Parents, Neighbors and Youth Crime," IZA Discussion Papers 13906, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    22. Guo, Yuhe & Li, Shaoping & Chen, Siwei & Tang, Yalin & Liu, Chengfang, 2022. "Health benefits of having more female classmates: Quasi-experimental evidence from China," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    23. Oleg V. Poldin & Tania P. Simoes & Marcelo Knobel & Maria M. Yudkevich, 2015. "Estimation of Peer Effects with Predicted Social Ties: Evidence from Two Universities in Brazil and Russia," HSE Working papers WP BRP 30/EDU/2015, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    24. Lucia Corno & Michela Carlana, 2022. "Shaping gender-stereotypical beliefs: the role of parents and peers," IFS Working Papers W22/52, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    25. Weina Zhou & Andrew J. Hill, 2023. "The spillover effects of parental verbal conflict on classmates' cognitive and noncognitive outcomes," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 61(2), pages 342-363, April.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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