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Class-Size Effects on Adolescents’ Mental Health and Well-Being in Swedish School

Author

Listed:
  • Niklas, Jakobsson

    (Dept. of Economics)

  • Persson, Mattias

    (Örebro University)

  • Svensson, Mikael

    (Dept. of Economics)

Abstract

This paper analyzes whether class size has an effect on the prevalence of mental health problems and well-being among adolescents in Swedish schools. We use cross-sectional data collected in year 2008 covering 2,755 Swedish adolescents in 9th grade from 40 schools and 159 classes. We utilize different econometric approaches to address potential between- and within-school endogeneity including school-fixed effects and regression discontinuity approaches. Our results indicate no robust effects of class size on the prevalence of mental health problems and well-being, and we cannot reject the hypothesis that class size has no effect on mental health and well-being at all.

Suggested Citation

  • Niklas, Jakobsson & Persson, Mattias & Svensson, Mikael, 2013. "Class-Size Effects on Adolescents’ Mental Health and Well-Being in Swedish School," Karlstad University Working Papers in Economics 9, Karlstad University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:kaunek:0009
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    Cited by:

    1. David Frayman & Christian Krekel & Richard Layard & Sara MacLennan & Isaac Parkes, 2024. "Value for money: How to improve wellbeing and reduce misery," CEP Reports 44, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    2. Simon Calmar Andersen & Louise Beuchert & Phillip Heiler & Helena Skyt Nielsen, 2023. "A Guide to Impact Evaluation under Sample Selection and Missing Data: Teacher's Aides and Adolescent Mental Health," Papers 2308.04963, arXiv.org.
    3. Oikawa, Masato & Tanaka, Ryuichi & Bessho, Shun-ichiro & Noguchi, Haruko, 2020. "Do Class Size Reductions Protect Students from Infectious Disease? Lessons for COVID-19 Policy from Flu Epidemic in Tokyo Metropolitan Area," IZA Discussion Papers 13432, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Sameh Hallaq, 2020. "Class Size, Cognitive Abilities, Bullying, and Violent Behavior: Evidence from West Bank Schools," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_955, Levy Economics Institute.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    mental health; well-being; class size; adolescents; Sweden.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

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