IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp14952.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Effects of Childhood Peers on Personality Skills

Author

Listed:
  • Feng, Shuaizhang

    (Shanghai University of Finance and Economics)

  • Kim, Jun Hyung

    (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology)

  • Yang, Zhe

    (Peking University)

Abstract

Despite extensive literature on peer effects, the role of peers on personality skill development remains poorly understood. We fill this gap by investigating the effects of having disadvantaged primary school peers, generated by random classroom assignment and parental migration for employment. We find that having disadvantaged peers significantly lowers conscientiousness, agreeableness, emotional stability, and social skill. The implied effects of a 10–15 percentage point change in the classroom proportion of disadvantaged peers are comparable to the effects of popular early childhood interventions. Furthermore, we find suggestive evidence that these effects are driven by the peers' personality skills.

Suggested Citation

  • Feng, Shuaizhang & Kim, Jun Hyung & Yang, Zhe, 2021. "Effects of Childhood Peers on Personality Skills," IZA Discussion Papers 14952, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14952
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp14952.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sandra E. Black & Paul J. Devereux & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2013. "Under Pressure? The Effect of Peers on Outcomes of Young Adults," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(1), pages 119-153.
    2. Alpaslan Akay & Corrado Giulietti & Juan Robalino & Klaus Zimmermann, 2014. "Remittances and well-being among rural-to-urban migrants in China," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 517-546, September.
    3. Asako Ohinata & Jan C. van Ours, 2013. "How Immigrant Children Affect the Academic Achievement of Native Dutch Children," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 0, pages 308-331, August.
    4. Raj Chetty & John N. Friedman & Nathaniel Hilger & Emmanuel Saez & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach & Danny Yagan, 2011. "How Does Your Kindergarten Classroom Affect Your Earnings? Evidence from Project Star," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(4), pages 1593-1660.
    5. Arnaud Dupuy & Alfred Galichon, 2014. "Personality Traits and the Marriage Market," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 122(6), pages 1271-1319.
    6. Fletcher, Jason M. & Ross, Stephen L. & Zhang, Yuxiu, 2020. "The consequences of friendships: Evidence on the effect of social relationships in school on academic achievement," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    7. Eric D. Gould & Victor Lavy & M. Daniele Paserman, 2009. "Does Immigration Affect the Long‐Term Educational Outcomes of Natives? Quasi‐Experimental Evidence," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(540), pages 1243-1269, October.
    8. Hu, Feng, 2018. "Migrant peers in the classroom: Is the academic performance of local students negatively affected?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 582-597.
    9. 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.
    10. Li, Tao & Han, Li & Zhang, Linxiu & Rozelle, Scott, 2014. "Encouraging classroom peer interactions: Evidence from Chinese migrant schools," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 29-45.
    11. Atila Abdulkadiroğlu & Joshua Angrist & Parag Pathak, 2014. "The Elite Illusion: Achievement Effects at Boston and New York Exam Schools," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 82(1), pages 137-196, January.
    12. Jan Bietenbeck, 2020. "The Long-Term Impacts of Low-Achieving Childhood Peers: Evidence from Project STAR," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 18(1), pages 392-426.
    13. Kristoffersen, Jannie Helene Grøne & Krægpøth, Morten Visby & Nielsen, Helena Skyt & Simonsen, Marianne, 2015. "Disruptive school peers and student outcomes," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 1-13.
    14. David J. Deming, 2017. "The Growing Importance of Social Skills in the Labor Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(4), pages 1593-1640.
    15. Bin Huang & Rong Zhu, 2020. "Peer effects of low-ability students in the classroom: evidence from China’s middle schools," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 1343-1380, October.
    16. James Heckman & Rodrigo Pinto & Peter Savelyev, 2013. "Understanding the Mechanisms through Which an Influential Early Childhood Program Boosted Adult Outcomes," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(6), pages 2052-2086, October.
    17. Aaron Sojourner, 2013. "Identification of Peer Effects with Missing Peer Data: Evidence from Project STAR," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 123(569), pages 574-605, June.
    18. Min, Shi & Yuan, Zhouhang & Wang, Xiaobing & Hou, Lingling, 2019. "Do peer effects influence the academic performance of rural students at private migrant schools in China?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 418-433.
    19. Joshua D. Angrist & Kevin Lang, 2004. "Does School Integration Generate Peer Effects? Evidence from Boston's Metco Program," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(5), pages 1613-1634, December.
    20. Askarov, Zohid & Doucouliagos, Hristos, 2020. "A meta-analysis of the effects of remittances on household education expenditure," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    21. Fangwen Lu & Michael L. Anderson, 2015. "Peer Effects in Microenvironments: The Benefits of Homogeneous Classroom Groups," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(1), pages 91-122.
    22. Wang Tianheng, 2021. "Classroom Composition and Student Academic Achievement: The Impact of Peers’ Parental Education," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 21(1), pages 273-305, January.
    23. Scott E. Carrell & Mark Hoekstra & Elira Kuka, 2018. "The Long-Run Effects of Disruptive Peers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(11), pages 3377-3415, November.
    24. Song, Yang, 2014. "What should economists know about the current Chinese hukou system?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 200-212.
    25. Victor Lavy & M. Daniele Paserman & Analia Schlosser, 2012. "Inside the Black Box of Ability Peer Effects: Evidence from Variation in the Proportion of Low Achievers in the Classroom," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 122(559), pages 208-237, March.
    26. Mary A. Burke & Tim R. Sass, 2013. "Classroom Peer Effects and Student Achievement," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(1), pages 51-82.
    27. Chen, Yuanyuan & Feng, Shuaizhang, 2013. "Access to public schools and the education of migrant children in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 75-88.
    28. Victor Lavy & Analia Schlosser, 2011. "Mechanisms and Impacts of Gender Peer Effects at School," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 1-33, April.
    29. Démurger, Sylvie & Wang, Xiaoqian, 2016. "Remittances and expenditure patterns of the left behinds in rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 177-190.
    30. Scott A. Imberman & Adriana D. Kugler & Bruce I. Sacerdote, 2012. "Katrina's Children: Evidence on the Structure of Peer Effects from Hurricane Evacuees," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(5), pages 2048-2082, August.
    31. Bryan S. Graham, 2008. "Identifying Social Interactions Through Conditional Variance Restrictions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 76(3), pages 643-660, May.
    32. Thomas Dohmen & Armin Falk, 2011. "Performance Pay and Multidimensional Sorting: Productivity, Preferences, and Gender," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(2), pages 556-590, April.
    33. Scott E. Carrell & Mark L. Hoekstra, 2010. "Externalities in the Classroom: How Children Exposed to Domestic Violence Affect Everyone's Kids," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(1), pages 211-228, January.
    34. Sok Chul Hong & Jungmin Lee, 2017. "Who is sitting next to you? Peer effects inside the classroom," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 8(1), pages 239-275, March.
    35. Balsa, Ana & Gandelman, Néstor & Roldán, Flavia, 2018. "Peer and parental influence in academic performance and alcohol use," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 41-55.
    36. Y. Zhu & Z. Wu & L. Peng & L. Sheng, 2014. "Where did all the remittances go? Understanding the impact of remittances on consumption patterns in rural China," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(12), pages 1312-1322, April.
    37. Angrist, Joshua D., 2014. "The perils of peer effects," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 98-108.
    38. Robert Bifulco & Jason M. Fletcher & Stephen L. Ross, 2011. "The Effect of Classmate Characteristics on Post-secondary Outcomes: Evidence from the Add Health," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 3(1), pages 25-53, February.
    39. Charles F. Manski, 1993. "Identification of Endogenous Social Effects: The Reflection Problem," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 60(3), pages 531-542.
    40. Bobby W. Chung & Jian Zou, 2023. "Understanding spillover of peer parental education: Randomization evidence and mechanisms," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 61(3), pages 496-522, July.
    41. Almlund, Mathilde & Duckworth, Angela Lee & Heckman, James & Kautz, Tim, 2011. "Personality Psychology and Economics," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 1-181, Elsevier.
    42. 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).
    43. Victor Lavy & Olmo Silva & Felix Weinhardt, 2012. "The Good, the Bad, and the Average: Evidence on Ability Peer Effects in Schools," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 30(2), pages 367-414.
    44. Matthew Neidell & Jane Waldfogel, 2010. "Cognitive and Noncognitive Peer Effects in Early Education," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(3), pages 562-576, August.
    45. Bart H. H. Golsteyn & Arjan Non & Ulf Zölitz, 2021. "The Impact of Peer Personality on Academic Achievement," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(4), pages 1052-1099.
    46. Zhao, Liqiu & Zhao, Zhong, 2021. "Disruptive Peers in the Classroom and Students’ Academic Outcomes: Evidence and Mechanisms," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    47. Jane Cooley Fruehwirth, 2014. "Can Achievement Peer Effect Estimates Inform Policy? A View from Inside the Black Box," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 96(3), pages 514-523, July.
    48. Weili Ding & Steven F. Lehrer, 2007. "Do Peers Affect Student Achievement in China's Secondary Schools?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(2), pages 300-312, May.
    49. Wang Haining & Zhu Rong, 2019. "China’s Only Children and Their Spillover Effects on Academic Performance in the Classroom," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 19(4), pages 1-10, October.
    50. Randall Akee & William Copeland & E. Jane Costello & Emilia Simeonova, 2018. "How Does Household Income Affect Child Personality Traits and Behaviors?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(3), pages 775-827, March.
    51. Xin Meng & Chikako Yamauchi, 2017. "Children of Migrants: The Cumulative Impact of Parental Migration on Children’s Education and Health Outcomes in China," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(5), pages 1677-1714, October.
    52. Yuanyuan Chen & Shuaizhang Feng, 2017. "Quality of migrant schools in China: evidence from a longitudinal study in Shanghai," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 30(3), pages 1007-1034, July.
    53. Zhang, Hongliang & Behrman, Jere R. & Fan, C. Simon & Wei, Xiangdong & Zhang, Junsen, 2014. "Does parental absence reduce cognitive achievements? Evidence from rural China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 181-195.
    54. Humphries, John Eric & Kosse, Fabian, 2017. "On the interpretation of non-cognitive skills – What is being measured and why it matters," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 174-185.
    55. Kang, Changhui, 2007. "Classroom peer effects and academic achievement: Quasi-randomization evidence from South Korea," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 458-495, May.
    56. Simone Balestra & Beatrix Eugster & Helge Liebert, 2022. "Peers with Special Needs: Effects and Policies," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 104(3), pages 602-618, May.
    57. Stephen Gibbons & Shqiponja Telhaj, 2016. "Peer Effects: Evidence from Secondary School Transition in England," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 78(4), pages 548-575, August.
    58. Ahn, Tom & Trogdon, Justin G., 2017. "Peer delinquency and student achievement in middle school," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 192-217.
    59. Moffitt, Robert A. (ed.), 2016. "Economics of Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the United States, Volume I," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226370477, August.
    60. Li, Qiang & Liu, Gordon & Zang, Wenbin, 2015. "The health of left-behind children in rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 367-376.
    61. Marco Bertoni & Giorgio Brunello & Lorenzo Cappellari, 2020. "Who benefits from privileged peers? Evidence from siblings in schools," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(7), pages 893-916, November.
    62. Haizheng Li & Steven Zahniser, 2002. "The Determinants of Temporary Rural-to-Urban Migration in China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 39(12), pages 2219-2235, November.
    63. Will Dobbie & Roland G. Fryer Jr., 2014. "The Impact of Attending a School with High-Achieving Peers: Evidence from the New York City Exam Schools," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 6(3), pages 58-75, July.
    64. Carman, Katherine Grace & Zhang, Lei, 2012. "Classroom peer effects and academic achievement: Evidence from a Chinese middle school," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 223-237.
    65. Shuaizhang Feng & Yujie Han & James J. Heckman & Tim Kautz, "undated". "Comparing the Reliability and Predictive Power of Child, Teacher, and Guardian Reports of Noncognitive Skills," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 2dd7b83e72a74c4cb095b6a0e, Mathematica Policy Research.
    66. Meng, Lei & Zhao, Min Qiang, 2018. "Permanent and temporary rural–urban migration in China: Evidence from field surveys," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 228-239.
    67. Caroline Hoxby, 2000. "Peer Effects in the Classroom: Learning from Gender and Race Variation," NBER Working Papers 7867, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    68. Victor Lavy & Analía Schlosser, 2011. "Corrigendum: Mechanisms and Impacts of Gender Peer Effects at School," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(3), pages 268-268, July.
    69. Moffitt, Robert A. (ed.), 2016. "Economics of Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the United States, Volume II," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226392493, August.
    70. Heckman, James J, 1995. "Lessons from the Bell Curve," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(5), pages 1091-1120, October.
    71. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/361levbcs399s9oa154em6h9jl is not listed on IDEAS
    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. Li, Li & Zhao, Liqiu, 2022. "Does a “bad apple” spoil the bunch? The impact of low-achieving students on non-cognitive outcomes," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).

    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. de Gendre, Alexandra & Salamanca, Nicolás, 2020. "On the Mechanisms of Ability Peer Effects," IZA Discussion Papers 13938, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Zhao, Liqiu & Zhao, Zhong, 2021. "Disruptive Peers in the Classroom and Students’ Academic Outcomes: Evidence and Mechanisms," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    3. Zhang, Haifeng & Zang, Lijun & Mao, Mingzhi & Guo, Jiqiang & Wang, Chunchao, 2023. "The externalities of preschool attendees in middle school classes," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    4. Weina Zhou & Andrew J. Hill, 2023. "The spillover effects of parental verbal conflict on classmates' cognitive and noncognitive outcomes," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 61(2), pages 342-363, April.
    5. Feng, Han & Li, Jiayao, 2016. "Head teachers, peer effects, and student achievement," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 268-283.
    6. Wang, Haining & Cheng, Zhiming & Smyth, Russell, 2018. "Do migrant students affect local students’ academic achievements in urban China?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 64-77.
    7. Dong, Xiaoqi & Liang, Yinhe & Yu, Shuang, 2023. "Middle-achieving students are also my peers: The impact of peer effort on academic performance," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    8. Wang, Haining & Zhu, Rong, 2021. "Social spillovers of China’s left-behind children in the classroom," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    9. Shure, Nikki, 2021. "Non-cognitive peer effects in secondary education," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    10. Silvia Mendolia & Alfredo R Paloyo & Ian Walker, 2018. "Heterogeneous effects of high school peers on educational outcomes," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 70(3), pages 613-634.
    11. Simone Balestra & Aurélien Sallin & Stefan C. Wolter, 2023. "High-Ability Influencers? The Heterogeneous Effects of Gifted Classmates," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 58(2), pages 633-665.
    12. Figlio, D. & Karbownik, K. & Salvanes, K.G., 2016. "Education Research and Administrative Data," Handbook of the Economics of Education,, Elsevier.
    13. Xu, Bin & Ma, Qingxuan & Yu, Qianbin, 2024. "Does the proportion of rural students affect the performance of urban students? ––Evidence from urban schools in China," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    14. Auestad, May Linn, 2018. "The effect of low-achieving peers," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 178-214.
    15. Wang Tianheng, 2021. "Classroom Composition and Student Academic Achievement: The Impact of Peers’ Parental Education," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 21(1), pages 273-305, January.
    16. Zhang, Hongliang, 2016. "The role of testing noise in the estimation of achievement-based peer effects," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 113-123.
    17. Ahn, Tom & Trogdon, Justin G., 2017. "Peer delinquency and student achievement in middle school," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 192-217.
    18. Meschi, Elena & Pavese, Caterina, 2023. "Ability composition in the class and the school performance of immigrant students," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    19. Bobby W. Chung & Jian Zou, 2023. "Understanding spillover of peer parental education: Randomization evidence and mechanisms," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 61(3), pages 496-522, July.
    20. Cools, Angela & Fernández, Raquel & Patacchini, Eleonora, 2022. "The asymmetric gender effects of high flyers," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    peer effect; noncognitive skill; left-behind children; human capital; Big-5;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; 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:dp14952. 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.