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Peer Effects on Violence: Experimental Evidence from El Salvador

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  • Dinarte Diaz, Lelys

    (World Bank)

Abstract

Globally, 150 million adolescents report being victims of or engaging in peer-to-peer violence in and around school. One strategy to reduce this risk is to occupy youth in after-school programs (ASP). Yet, the question remains: how does peer group composition affect the effectiveness of an ASP? I address this question by randomly assigning youths to either a control, homogeneous, or heterogeneous peer group within an ASP implemented in El Salvador. I find that, unlike homogeneous groups, heterogeneous peer groups do help students avoid violence. These results are relevant to public policy discussions on optimal group composition for violence reduction programs.

Suggested Citation

  • Dinarte Diaz, Lelys, 2024. "Peer Effects on Violence: Experimental Evidence from El Salvador," IZA Discussion Papers 16830, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16830
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    peer effects; violence; integration; tracking; after-school programs;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I29 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Other
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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