IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp8426.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Too Busy for School? The Effect of Athletic Participation on Absenteeism

Author

Listed:
  • Cuffe, Harold E.

    (Victoria University of Wellington)

  • Waddell, Glen R.

    (University of Oregon)

  • Bignell, Wesley

    (University of Washington)

Abstract

While existing research supports that participation in high-school athletics is associated with better education and labour-market outcomes, the mechanisms through which these benefits accrue are not well established. We use data from a large public-school district to retrieve an estimate of the causal effect of high-school athletic participation on absenteeism. We show that active competition decreases absences, with most of the effect driven by reductions in unexcused absences – truancy among active male athletes declines significantly, with the effects larger in earlier grades and for black and Hispanic boys. Strong game-day effects are also evident, in both boys and girls, as truancy declines on game days are offset with higher rates of absenteeism the following day. Addressing the effects on academic performance, we find significant heterogeneity in the response to active athletic participation by race, gender and family structure, with boys not in dual-parent households exhibiting small academic improvements in semesters in which they experienced greater athletic participation.

Suggested Citation

  • Cuffe, Harold E. & Waddell, Glen R. & Bignell, Wesley, 2014. "Too Busy for School? The Effect of Athletic Participation on Absenteeism," IZA Discussion Papers 8426, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8426
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp8426.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Luca Stanca, 2006. "The Effects of Attendance on Academic Performance: Panel Data Evidence for Introductory Microeconomics," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(3), pages 251-266, July.
    2. Lipscomb, Stephen, 2007. "Secondary school extracurricular involvement and academic achievement: a fixed effects approach," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 463-472, August.
    3. Ozkan Eren & Daniel L. Millimet, 2008. "Time to learn? The organizational structure of schools and student achievement," Studies in Empirical Economics, in: Christian Dustmann & Bernd Fitzenberger & Stephen Machin (ed.), The Economics of Education and Training, pages 47-78, Springer.
    4. Julio Cáceres-Delpiano & Eugenio Giolito, 2012. "The Impact of Unilateral Divorce on Crime," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 30(1), pages 215-248.
    5. Dobkin, Carlos & Gil, Ricard & Marion, Justin, 2010. "Skipping class in college and exam performance: Evidence from a regression discontinuity classroom experiment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 566-575, August.
    6. Steven G. Rivkin & Jeffrey C. Schiman, 2015. "Instruction Time, Classroom Quality, and Academic Achievement," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 125(588), pages 425-448, November.
    7. Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2007. "The Impact of Length of the School Year on Student Performance and Earnings: Evidence From the German Short School Years," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(523), pages 1216-1242, October.
    8. Daniel R. Marburger, 2001. "Absenteeism and Undergraduate Exam Performance," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(2), pages 99-109, January.
    9. Rees, Daniel I. & Sabia, Joseph J., 2010. "Sports participation and academic performance: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 751-759, October.
    10. David Romer, 1993. "Do Students Go to Class? Should They?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(3), pages 167-174, Summer.
    11. Nicola Persico & Andrew Postlewaite & Dan Silverman, 2004. "The Effect of Adolescent Experience on Labor Market Outcomes: The Case of Height," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(5), pages 1019-1053, October.
    12. Dave E. Marcotte & Steven W. Hemelt, 2008. "Unscheduled School Closings and Student Performance," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 3(3), pages 316-338, July.
    13. Heather Antecol & Kelly Bedard, 2007. "Does single parenthood increase the probability of teenage promiscuity, substance use, and crime?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 20(1), pages 55-71, February.
    14. Betsey Stevenson, 2010. "Beyond the Classroom: Using Title IX to Measure the Return to High School Sports," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(2), pages 284-301, May.
    15. Durden, Garey C & Ellis, Larry V, 1995. "The Effects of Attendance on Student Learning in Principles of Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(2), pages 343-346, May.
    16. Arulampalam, Wiji & Naylor, Robin A. & Smith, Jeremy, 2012. "Am I missing something? The effects of absence from class on student performance," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 363-375.
    17. Christopher F Baum & Austin Nichols & Mark E Schaffer, 2010. "Evaluating one-way and two-way cluster-robust covariance matrix estimates," BOS10 Stata Conference 11, Stata Users Group.
    18. John M. Barron & Bradley T. Ewing & Glen R. Waddell, 2000. "The Effects Of High School Athletic Participation On Education And Labor Market Outcomes," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 82(3), pages 409-421, August.
    19. Marcotte, Dave E., 2007. "Schooling and test scores: A mother-natural experiment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 629-640, October.
    20. Eide, Eric R. & Ronan, Nick, 2001. "Is participation in high school athletics an investment or a consumption good?: Evidence from high school and beyond," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(5), pages 431-442, October.
    21. Jonathan Gruber, 2004. "Is Making Divorce Easier Bad for Children? The Long-Run Implications of Unilateral Divorce," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(4), pages 799-834, October.
    22. Jennjou Chen & Tsui-Fang Lin, 2008. "Class Attendance and Exam Performance: A Randomized Experiment," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(3), pages 213-227, July.
    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. Aucejo, Esteban M. & Romano, Teresa Foy, 2016. "Assessing the effect of school days and absences on test score performance," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 70-87.
    2. Meroni, Elena Claudia & Piazzalunga, Daniela & Pronzato, Chiara D., 2018. "Use of Extra-School Time and Child Behaviours: Evidence from the UK," IZA Discussion Papers 11606, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Elena Claudia Meroni & Daniela Piazzalunga & Chiara Pronzato, 2019. "Use of extra-school time and child behaviour," FBK-IRVAPP Working Papers 2019-02, Research Institute for the Evaluation of Public Policies (IRVAPP), Bruno Kessler Foundation.
    4. Labriola, Silvia & Pronzato, Chiara, 2018. "The determinants of children's use of extra-school time in Europe," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201809, University of Turin.

    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. Harold E. Cuffe & Glen R. Waddell & Wesley Bignell, 2017. "Can School Sports Reduce Racial Gaps In Truancy And Achievement?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 55(4), pages 1966-1985, October.
    2. Arulampalam, Wiji & Naylor, Robin A. & Smith, Jeremy, 2012. "Am I missing something? The effects of absence from class on student performance," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 363-375.
    3. Mario Nosvelli, 2023. "Mens sana in corpore sano: the effects of sport on children’s learning in Italy," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 40(2), pages 703-729, July.
    4. Fricke, Hans & Lechner, Michael & Steinmayr, Andreas, 2018. "The effects of incentives to exercise on student performance in college," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 14-39.
    5. Sacha Kapoor & Matthijs Oosterveen & Dinand Webbink, 2021. "The price of forced attendance," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(2), pages 209-227, March.
    6. Stefan Buechele, 2020. "Evaluating the link between attendance and performance in higher education - the role of classroom engagement dimensions," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202010, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    7. Franz Buscha & Anna Conte, 2014. "The Impact of Truancy on Educational Attainment during Compulsory Schooling: a Bivariate Ordered Probit Estimator with Mixed Effects," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 82(1), pages 103-127, January.
    8. Ransom, Michael R & Ransom, Tyler, 2018. "Do high school sports build or reveal character? Bounding causal estimates of sports participation," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 75-89.
    9. Dey, Ishita, 2018. "Class attendance and academic performance: A subgroup analysis," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 29-40.
    10. Michael Lechner & Paul Downward, 2017. "Heterogeneous sports participation and labour market outcomes in England," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(4), pages 335-348, January.
    11. Cabane, Charlotte & Hille, Adrian & Lechner, Michael, 2016. "Mozart or Pelé? The effects of adolescents' participation in music and sports," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 90-103.
    12. Aucejo, Esteban M. & Romano, Teresa Foy, 2016. "Assessing the effect of school days and absences on test score performance," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 70-87.
    13. Pfeifer, Christian & Cornelißen, Thomas, 2010. "The impact of participation in sports on educational attainment--New evidence from Germany," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 94-103, February.
    14. Richard W. DiSalvo & Jing Che, 2022. "Causal inference on the engagement effects of athletic participation from within‐student variation," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(4), pages 1911-1928, October.
    15. Katie Schultz, 2017. "Do High School Athletes Get Better Grades During the Off-Season?," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 18(2), pages 182-208, February.
    16. Lechner, Michael & Fricke, Hans & Steinmayr, Andreas, 2017. "The Effect of Physical Activity on Student Performance in College: An Experimental Evaluation," CEPR Discussion Papers 12052, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. Cabane, Charlotte & Hille, Adrian & Lechner, Michael, 2015. "Mozart or Pelé? The effects of teenagers’ participation in music and sports," Economics Working Paper Series 1509, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    18. Tin-chun Lin, 2010. "Does a student's preference for a teacher's instructional style matter? An analysis of an economic approach," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 30(2), pages 1320-1332.
    19. Laura M. Crispin, 2017. "Extracurricular Participation, “At-Risk” Status, and the High School Dropout Decision," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 12(2), pages 166-196, Spring.
    20. Martin Lundin & Oskar Nordström Skans & Pär Zetterberg, 2021. "Leadership Experiences, Labor Market Entry, and Early Career Trajectories," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 56(2), pages 480-511.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    education; truancy; attendance; athletes; sport;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism

    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:dp8426. 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.