Download This PaperShort-Run and Long-Run Effects of Peers from Disrupted Families
37 Pages Posted: 13 Jan 2020 Last revised: 24 Jul 2020
Date Written: July 24, 2020
Abstract
I study the short-run and long-run effects of exposure to peers from disrupted families in adolescence, using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) data. I find that girls are mostly unaffected by peers from disrupted families, while boys exposed to more peers from disrupted families exhibit more school problems in adolescence, attend lower-quality post-secondary institutions, and exhibit higher arrest probabilities, less stable jobs and higher probabilities of suffering from financial stress as young adults. These results suggest negative effects on non-cognitive skills, but no effect on cognitive skills, measured by academic performance. The dramatic increase in family disruption should thus receive more attention, as the intergenerational mobility and inequality consequences could be larger than anticipated because of classroom spillovers.
Keywords: Education, gender, school problem, family structure, father absence, peer effect
JEL Classification: I21, J12, J13, J16, Z13
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