IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp18060.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Burden of Comparison: Relative Socioeconomic Position and Adolescent Socioemotional Development

Author

Listed:
  • Gambardella, Giulia

    (University of Perugia)

  • Ben Lenda, Ilham

    (University of Trento)

  • Mangiavacchi, Lucia

    (University of Perugia)

  • Piccoli, Luca

    (University of Trento)

Abstract

This paper examines how an adolescent's relative socioeconomic status (SES) within their school influences their socioemotional development and well-being. Although peer effects on academic outcomes are well-documented, less is known about how an individual's socioeconomic rank among peers shapes non-cognitive skills. Using PISA 2022 data and a school fixed effects model, we investigate the relationship between two measures of relative SES—Socioeconomic Rank and Socioeconomic Gap—and a range of outcomes, including socioemotional skills, self-esteem, and attitudes toward school. Our results show that higher within-school SES rank is significantly associated with better socioemotional skills, greater well-being, and stronger academic motivation. We also find important heterogeneity by gender and migrant background. These findings highlight that an individual's relative socioeconomic position, beyond absolute resources, plays a critical role in shaping adolescent non-cognitive development.

Suggested Citation

  • Gambardella, Giulia & Ben Lenda, Ilham & Mangiavacchi, Lucia & Piccoli, Luca, 2025. "The Burden of Comparison: Relative Socioeconomic Position and Adolescent Socioemotional Development," IZA Discussion Papers 18060, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18060
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp18060.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James J. Heckman & Tomas Jagelka & Tim Kautz, 2019. "Some Contributions of Economics to the Study of Personality," Working Papers 2019-069, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    2. Del Bono, Emilia & Etheridge, Ben & Garcia, Paul, 2024. "The economic value of childhood socio-emotional skills," ISER Working Paper Series 2024-01, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mequanint B. Melesse & Amos Nyangira Tirra & Yabibal M. Walle & Michael Hauser, 2023. "Understanding the Determinants of Aspirations in Rural Tanzania: Does Financial Literacy Matter?," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 35(6), pages 1294-1321, December.
    2. Ferman, Bruno & Fontes, Luiz Felipe, 2020. "Discriminating Behavior: Evidence from teachers’ grading bias," MPRA Paper 100400, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Lina Lozano & Ernesto Reuben, 2022. "Measuring Preferences for Competition," Working Papers 20220078, New York University Abu Dhabi, Department of Social Science, revised Aug 2022.
    4. Dillon, Andrew & Karlan, Dean & Udry, Christopher & Zinman, Jonathan, 2020. "Good identification, meet good data," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    5. Bietenbeck, Jan, 2020. "Own Motivation, Peer Motivation, and Educational Success," IZA Discussion Papers 13872, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Mourelatos, Evangelos, 2023. "Does Mood affect Sexual and Gender Discrimination in Hiring Choices? Evidence from Online Experiments," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    7. Tomáš Jagelka, 2024. "Are Economists’ Preferences Psychologists’ Personality Traits? A Structural Approach," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 132(3), pages 910-970.
    8. Ksenia Rozhkova & Sergey Roshchin, 2021. "The Impact of Non-Cognitive Characteristics on the Higher Education Choice-Making: An Economist Perspective," Voprosy obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, issue 3, pages 138-167.
    9. Fallucchi, Francesco & Nosenzo, Daniele & Reuben, Ernesto, 2020. "Measuring preferences for competition with experimentally-validated survey questions," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 402-423.
    10. Günther, Laurenz & Günther, Laurenz, 2022. "Lack of Substantive Representation in Europe: Causes and Consequences," VfS Annual Conference 2022 (Basel): Big Data in Economics 264114, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    11. Mourelatos, Evangelos, 2021. "Personality and Ethics on Online Labor Markets: How mood influences ethical perceptions," EconStor Preprints 244735, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    12. Bernd Fitzenberger & Gary Mena & Jan Nimczik & Uwe Sunde, 2022. "Personality Traits Across the Life Cycle: Disentangling Age, Period and Cohort Effects," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(646), pages 2141-2172.
    13. Maria Cinque & Stephanie Carretero & Joanna Napierala, 2021. "Non-cognitive skills and other related concepts: towards a better understanding of similarities and differences," JRC Working Papers on Labour, Education and Technology 2021-09, Joint Research Centre.
    14. De Paola, Maria & Skatova, Ekaterina, 2024. "Non-cognitive skills and social isolation in late childhood: An investigation of their impact on school performance in Italy," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    15. Aabo, Tom & Hanousek, Jan & Pantzalis, Christos & Park, Jung Chul, 2023. "CEO personality traits and corporate value implication of acquisitions," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 86-106.
    16. Zou, Jian, 2024. "The peer effect of persistence on student achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    17. Morando, Greta & Sen, Sonkurt, 2025. "Teacher Gender Effects on Students’ Socio-Emotional Skills," IZA Discussion Papers 17953, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Рожкова К. В. & Рощин С. Ю., 2021. "Влияние Некогнитивных Характеристик На Выбор Траекторий В Высшем Образовании: Взгляд Экономистов," Вопросы образования // Educational Studies Moscow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, issue 3, pages 138-167.
    19. Gertler,Paul J. & Heckman,James J. & Pinto,Rodrigo Ribeiro Antunes & Chang-Lopez,Susan M. & Grantham-Mcgregor,Sally & Vermeersch,Christel M. J. & Walker,Susan & Wright,Amika S., 2021. "Effect of the Jamaica Early Childhood Stimulation Intervention on Labor Market Outcomes at Age 31," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9787, The World Bank.
    20. repec:ces:ceswps:_9253 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Piovesan, Marco & Willadsen, Helene, 2021. "Risk preferences and personality traits in children and adolescents," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 523-532.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18060. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.