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Relative Age Effect on European Adolescents’ Social Network

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  • 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
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    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, 2018. "The Impact of Dual Apprenticeship Programs on Early Labour Market Outcomes: A Dynamic Approach," IZA Discussion Papers 12011, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Relative age; adolescents; education; Europe; social network;

    JEL classification:

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

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