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Socioemotional Skills, Education, and Health-Related Outcomes of High-Ability Individuals

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  • Peter Savelyev

    (Vanderbilt University)

  • Kegon Tan

    (University of Wisconsin-Medison)

Abstract

We estimate the effects of education and five well-established socioemotional skills on essential life outcomes including health behaviors, health-related lifestyles, earnings, as well as general and mental health. We supplement results in papers that treat socioemotional skills as a single-dimensional variable and find important heterogeneity that a one-dimensional representation does not capture. By combining factor-analytic modeling with a powerful procedure to account for multiple-hypothesis testing, we control for the ability bias, for the measurement error in proxies of socioemotional skills, and for the family-wise error rate. We also contribute to the still controversial discussion about the causal effect of education on health-related outcomes by using alternative methods to the use of natural experiments. We use the Terman data, a unique longitudinal study.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Savelyev & Kegon Tan, 2015. "Socioemotional Skills, Education, and Health-Related Outcomes of High-Ability Individuals," Vanderbilt University Department of Economics Working Papers 15-00007, Vanderbilt University Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:van:wpaper:vuecon-15-00007
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    Cited by:

    1. Savelyev, Peter A. & Ward, Benjamin C. & Krueger, Robert F. & McGue, Matt, 2022. "Health endowments, schooling allocation in the family, and longevity: Evidence from US twins," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    2. Attanasio, Orazio & Blundell, Richard & Conti, Gabriella & Mason, Giacomo, 2020. "Inequality in socio-emotional skills: A cross-cohort comparison," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    3. Bellmann, Lutz & Hübler, Olaf, 2019. "Personal Attitudes, Job Characteristics and Health," IZA Discussion Papers 12597, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Kai Hong & Peter A. Savelyev & Kegon T. K. Tan, 2020. "Understanding the Mechanisms Linking College Education with Longevity," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(3), pages 371-400.
    5. Gensowski, Miriam, 2018. "Personality, IQ, and lifetime earnings," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 170-183.
    6. Zhuang Hao & Benjamin W. Cowan, 2019. "The Effects of Graduation Requirements on Risky Health Behaviors of High School Students," American Journal of Health Economics, MIT Press, vol. 5(1), pages 97-125, Winter.
    7. Atticus Bolyard & Peter Savelyev, 2021. "Understanding the Educational Attainment Polygenic Score and its Interactions with SES in Determining Health in Young Adulthood," Working Papers 2021-026, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    8. Jiaming Soh & Kegon T. K. Tan, 2020. "The Nurture Effects of Multidimensional Parental Skills on College Attainment," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(1), pages 1-42.
    9. Tatiana V. Volchenko & Lyudmila S. Ruzhanskaya & Maxim A. Fokeev, 2021. "Non-cognitive skills of employees and their influence on voluntary turnover," Upravlenets, Ural State University of Economics, vol. 12(2), pages 87-101, April.
    10. Michael Grossman, 2022. "The demand for health turns 50: Reflections," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(9), pages 1807-1822, September.
    11. Rozhkova, Ksenia & Roshchin, Sergey & Roshchina, Yana, 2023. "Do non-cognitive skills matter for alcohol consumption? Evidence from Russia," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 564-576.
    12. Lisa Josefin Norrgren, 2023. "The highly educated live longer: The role of time preference, cognitive ability, and educational plans," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(8), pages 1767-1784, August.
    13. Lutz Bellmann & Olaf Hübler, 2022. "Personality traits, working conditions and health: an empirical analysis based on the German Linked Personnel Panel, 2013–2017," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 283-318, February.
    14. An Huang & Paulo Santos, 2022. "Improving the reliability and validity of data on Big Five personality traits in developing countries," Monash Economics Working Papers 2022-04, Monash University, Department of Economics.

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    Keywords

    college education; Big Five personality taxonomy; health behaviors; lifestyles; earnings; health; longevity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I0 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - General
    • J0 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General

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