IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/glodps/277.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Relative Age Effect on European Adolescents’ Social Network

Author

Listed:
  • Fumarco, Luca
  • Baert, Stijn

Abstract

We contribute to the literature on relative age effects on pupils’ (non-cognitive) skills formation by studying students’ social network. We investigate data on European adolescents from the Health Behaviour in School Aged Children survey and use an instrumental variables approach to account for endogeneity of relative age while controlling for confounders, namely absolute age, season-of-birth, and family socio-economic status. We find robust evidence that suggests the existence of a substitution effect: the youngest students within a class e-communicate more frequently than relatively older classmates but have fewer friends and meet with them less frequently.

Suggested Citation

  • Fumarco, Luca & Baert, Stijn, 2018. "Relative Age Effect on European Adolescents’ Social Network," GLO Discussion Paper Series 277, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:glodps:277
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/184872/1/GLO-DP-0277.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James Heckman & Flavio Cunha, 2007. "The Technology of Skill Formation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(2), pages 31-47, May.
    2. Kasey S. Buckles & Daniel M. Hungerman, 2013. "Season of Birth and Later Outcomes: Old Questions, New Answers," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(3), pages 711-724, July.
    3. Simone Balestra & Beatrix Eugster & Helge Liebert, 2017. "The Effect of School Starting Age on Special Needs Incidence and Child Development into Adolescence," CESifo Working Paper Series 6837, CESifo.
    4. Lex Borghans & Bas Ter Weel & Bruce A. Weinberg, 2014. "People Skills and the Labor-Market Outcomes of Underrepresented Groups," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 67(2), pages 287-334, April.
    5. Moses, Tally, 2010. "Being treated differently: Stigma experiences with family, peers, and school staff among adolescents with mental health disorders," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(7), pages 985-993, April.
    6. Michael Lokshin & Sergiy Radyakin, 2012. "Month of Birth and Children’s Health in India," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 47(1), pages 174-203.
    7. Flavio Cunha & James J. Heckman & Susanne M. Schennach, 2010. "Estimating the Technology of Cognitive and Noncognitive Skill Formation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 78(3), pages 883-931, May.
    8. Mühlenweg, Andrea M., 2010. "Young and innocent: International evidence on age effects within grades on victimization in elementary school," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 109(3), pages 157-160, December.
    9. Fabio Sabatini & Francesco Sarracino, 2017. "Online Networks and Subjective Well-Being," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(3), pages 456-480, August.
    10. Maresa Sprietsma, 2010. "Effect of relative age in the first grade of primary school on long-term scholastic results: international comparative evidence using PISA 2003," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 1-32.
    11. Hart, Robert A. & Moro, Mirko, 2017. "Date of Birth and Selective Schooling," IZA Discussion Papers 10949, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Andrea M. Mühlenweg & Patrick A. Puhani, 2010. "The Evolution of the School-Entry Age Effect in a School Tracking System," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 45(2).
    13. Robert J. McCann & Xianwen Shi & Aloysius Siow & Ronald Wolthoff, 2015. "Becker Meets Ricardo: Multisector Matching with Communication and Cognitive Skills," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 31(4), pages 690-720.
    14. David J. Deming, 2017. "The Growing Importance of Social Skills in the Labor Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 132(4), pages 1593-1640.
    15. Flavio Cunha & James J. HECKMAN, 2009. "Investing in our Young People," Rivista Internazionale di Scienze Sociali, Vita e Pensiero, Pubblicazioni dell'Universita' Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, vol. 117(3), pages 387-418.
    16. Attar, Itay & Cohen-Zada, Danny, 2017. "The Effect of School Entrance Age on Educational Outcomes: Evidence Using Multiple Cutoff Dates and Exact Date of Birth," IZA Discussion Papers 10568, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Fumarco, Luca & Baert, Stijn, 2018. "Younger and Dissatisfied? Relative Age and Life-satisfaction in Adolescence," MPRA Paper 89968, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Rashmi Barua & Kevin Lang, 2016. "School Entry, Educational Attainment, and Quarter of Birth: A Cautionary Tale of a Local Average Treatment Effect," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 10(3), pages 347-376.
    19. Michele Pellizzari & Francesco Billari, 2012. "The younger, the better? Age-related differences in academic performance at university," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 25(2), pages 697-739, January.
    20. Kelly Bedard & Elizabeth Dhuey, 2006. "The Persistence of Early Childhood Maturity: International Evidence of Long-Run Age Effects," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 121(4), pages 1437-1472.
    21. Schwandt, Hannes & Wuppermann, Amelie, 2016. "The youngest get the pill: ADHD misdiagnosis in Germany, its regional correlates and international comparison," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 72-86.
    22. Ingeborg Foldøy Solli, 2017. "Left behind by birth month," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(4), pages 323-346, July.
    23. Alba, Alfonso & Cáceres, Julio, 2014. "Season of birth and mother and child characteristics : evidence from Spain and Chile," UC3M Working papers. Economics we1423, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía.
    24. Ponzo, Michela & Scoppa, Vincenzo, 2014. "The long-lasting effects of school entry age: Evidence from Italian students," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 578-599.
    25. Bahrs, Michael & Schumann, Mathias, 2016. "Unlucky to Be Young? The Long-Term Effects of School Starting Age on Smoking Behaviour and Health," hche Research Papers 2016/13, University of Hamburg, Hamburg Center for Health Economics (hche).
    26. Peña, Pablo A. & Duckworth, Angela L., 2018. "The effects of relative and absolute age in the measurement of grit from 9th to 12th grade," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 183-190.
    27. Peter Fredriksson & Björn Öckert, 2014. "Life‐cycle Effects of Age at School Start," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 124(579), pages 977-1004, September.
    28. Rafael Matta & Rafael P. Ribas & Breno Sampaio & Gustavo R. Sampaio, 2016. "The effect of age at school entry on college admission and earnings: a regression-discontinuity approach," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-25, December.
    29. Candace Currie & Saoirse Nic Gabhainn & Emmanuelle Godeau, 2009. "The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children: WHO Collaborative Cross-National (HBSC) Study: origins, concept, history and development 1982–2008," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 54(2), pages 131-139, September.
    30. Andrews,Donald W. K. & Stock,James H. (ed.), 2005. "Identification and Inference for Econometric Models," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521844413.
    31. James H. Stock & Motohiro Yogo, 2002. "Testing for Weak Instruments in Linear IV Regression," NBER Technical Working Papers 0284, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    32. Erik Lindqvist & Roine Vestman, 2011. "The Labor Market Returns to Cognitive and Noncognitive Ability: Evidence from the Swedish Enlistment," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(1), pages 101-128, January.
    33. repec:mpr:mprres:6738 is not listed on IDEAS
    34. Stefan Wuchty & Brian Uzzi, 2011. "Human Communication Dynamics in Digital Footsteps: A Study of the Agreement between Self-Reported Ties and Email Networks," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(11), pages 1-8, November.
    35. Mühlenweg, Andrea & Blomeyer, Dorothea & Stichnoth, Holger & Laucht, Manfred, 2012. "Effects of age at school entry (ASE) on the development of non-cognitive skills: Evidence from psychometric data," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 68-76.
    36. Attar, Itay & Cohen-Zada, Danny, 2018. "The effect of school entrance age on educational outcomes: Evidence using multiple cutoff dates and exact date of birth," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 38-57.
    37. Dhuey, Elizabeth & Lipscomb, Stephen, 2008. "What makes a leader? Relative age and high school leadership," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 173-183, April.
    38. Elliott Fan & Jin-Tan Liu & Yen-Chien Chen, 2017. "Is the Quarter of Birth Endogenous? New Evidence from Taiwan, the US, and Indonesia," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 79(6), pages 1087-1124, December.
    39. Rietveld, Cornelius A. & Webbink, Dinand, 2016. "On the genetic bias of the quarter of birth instrument," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 137-146.
    40. Todd E. Elder & Darren H. Lubotsky, 2009. "Kindergarten Entrance Age and Children’s Achievement: Impacts of State Policies, Family Background, and Peers," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 44(3).
    41. Datar, Ashlesha, 2006. "Does delaying kindergarten entrance give children a head start?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 43-62, February.
    42. Dhuey, Elizabeth & Lipscomb, Stephen, 2010. "Disabled or young? Relative age and special education diagnoses in schools," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 857-872, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fumarco, L. & Baert, S. & Sarracino, F., 2020. "Younger, dissatisfied, and unhealthy – Relative age in adolescence," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    2. Baert, Stijn & Neyt, Brecht & Omey, Eddy & Verhaest, Dieter, 2017. "Student Work, Educational Achievement, and Later Employment: A Dynamic Approach," IZA Discussion Papers 11127, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Neyt, Brecht & Verhaest, Dieter & Baert, Stijn, 2020. "The impact of dual apprenticeship programmes on early labour market outcomes: A dynamic approach," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    4. Fumarco Luca & Carlsson Magnus & Gibbs Benjamin G., 2020. "Erasmus Exchange Program – A Matter of (Relatively) Older Students," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 20(4), pages 1-14, October.
    5. Peña, Pablo A., 2020. "Relative age and investment in human capital," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    6. Tushar Bharati & Thea Harpley Green, 2021. "Age at school transition and children’s cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 21-06, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    7. By Stijn Baert & Brecht Neyt & Eddy Omey & Dieter Verhaest, 2022. "Student work during secondary education, educational achievement, and later employment: a dynamic approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(3), pages 1605-1635, September.
    8. Alar Urruticoechea & Andrés Oliveri & Elena Vernazza & Marta Giménez-Dasí & Rosario Martínez-Arias & Javier Martín-Babarro, 2021. "The Relative Age Effects in Educational Development: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-12, August.

    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. Fumarco, L. & Baert, S. & Sarracino, F., 2020. "Younger, dissatisfied, and unhealthy – Relative age in adolescence," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    2. Fumarco, Luca & Baert, Stijn, 2018. "Younger and Dissatisfied? Relative Age and Life-satisfaction in Adolescence," MPRA Paper 89968, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Peña, Pablo A., 2020. "Relative age and investment in human capital," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    4. Yamaguchi, Shintaro & Ito, Hirotake & Nakamuro, Makiko, 2023. "Month-of-Birth Effects on Skills and Skill Formation," IZA Discussion Papers 15895, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Peña, Pablo A., 2017. "Creating winners and losers: Date of birth, relative age in school, and outcomes in childhood and adulthood," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 152-176.
    6. Claire Crawford & Lorraine Dearden & Ellen Greaves, 2014. "The drivers of month-of-birth differences in children's cognitive and non-cognitive skills," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 177(4), pages 829-860, October.
    7. Tony Beatton & Michael P. Kidd & Anthony Niu & Francis Vella, 2023. "Age of Starting School, Academic Performance, and the Impact of Non‐Compliance: An Experiment within an Experiment, Evidence from Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 99(325), pages 175-206, June.
    8. Görlitz, Katja & Penny, Merlin & Tamm, Marcus, 2022. "The long-term effect of age at school entry on cognitive competencies in adulthood," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 91-104.
    9. Suziedelyte, Agne & Zhu, Anna, 2015. "Does early schooling narrow outcome gaps for advantaged and disadvantaged children?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 76-88.
    10. Goncalo Lima & Luis Catela Nunes & Ana Balcao Reis & Maria do Carmo Seabra, 2022. "No country for young kids? The effects of school starting age throughout childhood and beyond," Nova SBE Working Paper Series wp639, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics.
    11. Görlitz, Katja & Penny, Merlin & Tamm, Marcus, 2019. "The long-term effect of age at school entry on competencies in adulthood," Ruhr Economic Papers 792, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    12. Guo, Chuanyi & Wang, Xuening & Meng, Chen, 2023. "Does the early bird catch the worm? Evidence and interpretation on the long-term impact of school entry age in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    13. Attar, Itay & Cohen-Zada, Danny, 2018. "The effect of school entrance age on educational outcomes: Evidence using multiple cutoff dates and exact date of birth," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 38-57.
    14. Daniel Rakotomalala, 2020. "The effects of age on educational performances at the end of primary school : cross-sectional and regression discontinuity approach applications from Reunion Island," TEPP Working Paper 2020-06, TEPP.
    15. Page, Lionel & Sarkar, Dipanwita & Silva-Goncalves, Juliana, 2019. "Long-lasting effects of relative age at school," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 166-195.
    16. Daniel Rakotomalala, 2021. "The effects of age on educational performances at the end of primary school : cross-sectional and regression discontinuity approach applications from Reunion Island," Working Papers hal-03243392, HAL.
    17. Michael Bahrs & Mathias Schumann, 2020. "Unlucky to be young? The long-term effects of school starting age on smoking behavior and health," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(2), pages 555-600, April.
    18. Youwei Wang & Yuxin Chen & Yi Qian, 2018. "The Causal Link between Relative Age Effect and Entrepreneurship: Evidence from 17 Million Users across 49 Years on Taobao," NBER Working Papers 25318, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Claire Crawford & Lorraine Dearden & Ellen Greaves, 2013. "The drivers of month of birth differences in children's cognitive and non-cognitive skills: a regression discontinuity analysis," IFS Working Papers W13/08, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    20. YAMAGUCHI Shintaro & ITO Hirotake & NAKAMURO Makiko, 2020. "Month-of-Birth Effects on Skills and Skill Formation," Discussion papers 20079, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Relative age; adolescents; education; Europe; social network;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

    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:zbw:glodps:277. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: . General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/glabode.html .

    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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/glabode.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.