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Impacts of Boarding on Primary School Students’ Mental Health Outcomes – Instrumental-Variable Evidence from Rural Northwestern China

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  • Chen, Qihui
  • Chen, Yu
  • Zhao, Qiran

Abstract

This paper estimates the impacts of boarding on primary school students’ health outcomes, using data on 7606 students from rural areas of two northwestern provinces (Qinghai and Ningxia) of China. Exogenous variations in students’ home-to-school distance are exploited to address potential endogeneity in their boarding status. Instrumental variable estimates suggest that while boarding has little impact on students’ physical health (measured by height-for-age and BMI-for-age z-scores and hemoglobin concentration levels), it has a significantly detrimental effect on their mental health status, amounting to 0.455 standard deviations (SDs) of the distribution of scores on a Mental Health Test (a modified version of the Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale). The effect of boarding is more pronounced for students with relatively advantageous backgrounds. For example, boarding boys scored 0.544 SDs higher on the Mental Health Test (suggesting more anxiety problems) than nonboarding boys, and boarders from relatively wealthier families scored 0.754 SDs higher than wealthier nonboarders. ‘
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Suggested Citation

  • Chen, Qihui & Chen, Yu & Zhao, Qiran, 2020. "Impacts of Boarding on Primary School Students’ Mental Health Outcomes – Instrumental-Variable Evidence from Rural Northwestern China," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304385, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea20:304385
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.304385
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    Cited by:

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    2. Tianli Feng & Xiyuan Jia & Lucy Pappas & Xiaojun Zheng & Teresa Shao & Letao Sun & Charlie Weisberg & Madeline Lu Li & Scott Rozelle & Yue Ma, 2022. "Academic Performance and the Link with Depressive Symptoms among Rural Han and Minority Chinese Adolescents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-20, May.
    3. Zhang, Kezhong & He, Fan & Ma, Yuanyuan, 2021. "Sex ratios and mental health: Evidence from China," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    4. Bin Tang & Yue Wang & Yujuan Gao & Shijin Wu & Haoyang Li & Yang Chen & Yaojiang Shi, 2020. "The Effect of Boarding on the Mental Health of Primary School Students in Western Rural China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-17, November.
    5. Xing, Jianli & Leng, Lingli & Ho, Rainbow T.H., 2021. "Boarding school attendance and mental health among Chinese adolescents: The potential role of alienation from parents," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labor and Human Capital; International Development; Community/Rural/Urban Development;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General

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