Concussions and the Classroom: The Effect of an Acute Health Shock on Student Academic and Behavioral Outcomes

Concussions are among the most common acute health shocks experienced by adolescents, yet little is known about their causal effects on educational outcomes. We study the impact of diagnosed sports-related concussions on academic performance and behavioral incidents using a unique administrative dataset linking the Hawai‘i Department of Education to a statewide concussion surveillance system. Leveraging the longitudinal structure of the data, we implement a staggered difference-in-differences design that compares students who sustain concussions at different points in time. We find that a first concussion leads to a 0.14-point decline in science GPA but has little effect on other academic or behavioral outcomes. We further examine the consequences of repeated concussions and find that students who sustain multiple concussions experience a 0.359-point decline in mathematics GPA and a 0.276 increase in behavioral offenses following their second injury. These findings suggest that the persistent educational consequences of an isolated concussion are relatively modest, whereas repeated concussion exposure leads to larger and broader disruptions in students’ academic performance and behavior.