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The effects of alcohol use on academic achievement in high school

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  • Balsa, Ana I.
  • Giuliano, Laura M.
  • French, Michael T.

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of alcohol use on high school students' quality of learning. We estimate fixed-effects models using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Our primary measure of academic achievement is the student's grade point average (GPA) abstracted from official school transcripts. We find that increases in alcohol consumption result in small yet statistically significant reductions in GPA for male students and in statistically non-significant changes for females. For females, however, higher levels of drinking result in self-reported academic difficulty. The fixed-effects results are substantially smaller than OLS estimates, underscoring the importance of addressing unobserved individual heterogeneity.

Suggested Citation

  • Balsa, Ana I. & Giuliano, Laura M. & French, Michael T., 2011. "The effects of alcohol use on academic achievement in high school," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 1-15, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:30:y:2011:i:1:p:1-15
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    5. Joseph J. Sabia & Kurt Wang & Resul Cesur, 2017. "Sleepwalking Through School: New Evidence On Sleep And Academic Achievement," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 35(2), pages 331-344, April.
    6. Mangiavacchi, Lucia & Piccoli, Luca, 2018. "Parental alcohol consumption and adult children's educational attainment," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 132-145.
    7. Adams, Scott J. & Heywood, John S. & Ullman, Darin F. & Venkatesh, Shrathinth, 2022. "Social jobs and the returns to drinking," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    8. Yörük Barış K., 2017. "Health Insurance Coverage and Risky Health Behaviors among Young Adults," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 17(3), pages 1-21, July.
    9. Sarah See, 2016. "Parental supervision and adolescent risky behaviors," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 185-206, March.
    10. Baert, Stijn & Omey, Eddy & Verhaest, Dieter & Vermeir, Aurélie, 2015. "Mister Sandman, bring me good marks! On the relationship between sleep quality and academic achievement," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 91-98.
    11. Sarah Grace See, 2013. "The Riskiest of Them All: Parental Supervision and Adolescent Behaviors," CHILD Working Papers Series 21, Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic Economics (CHILD) - CCA.
    12. Sime Devcic & Damir Sekulic & Divo Ban & Zvonimir Kutlesa & Jelena Rodek & Dorica Sajber, 2018. "Evidencing Protective and Risk Factors for Harmful Alcohol Drinking in Adolescence: A Prospective Analysis of Sport-Participation and Scholastic-Achievement in Older Adolescents from Croatia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-14, May.
    13. Manu Raghav & Timothy M. Diette, 2022. "Greek myth or fact? The role of Greek houses in alcohol and drug violations on American campuses," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(55), pages 6406-6417, November.
    14. Ren, Yanjun & Zhang, Yanjie & Castro Campos, Bente & Loy, Jens-Peter, 2020. "Unhealthy consumption behaviors and their intergenerational persistence: The role of education," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    15. Wang, Kurt & Sabia, Joseph J. & Cesur, Resul, 2016. "Sleepwalking through School: New Evidence on Sleep and Academic Performance," IZA Discussion Papers 9829, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Nicole M. Fortin & Philip Oreopoulos & Shelley Phipps, 2015. "Leaving Boys Behind: Gender Disparities in High Academic Achievement," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 50(3), pages 549-579.
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