Effects of Childhood Peers on Personality Skills. A new GLO Discussion Paper by GLO Fellows Shuaizhang Feng, Jun Hyung Kim and Zhe Yang.

Discussion Paper, News, Post, Post-22

A new GLO Discussion Paper finds for China that having disadvantaged peers significantly lowers conscientiousness, agreeableness, emotional stability, and social skills.

GLO Discussion Paper No. 1004, 2021

Effects of Childhood Peers on Personality Skills – Download PDF
by Feng, Shuaizhang & Kim, Jun Hyung & Yang, Zhe

GLO Fellows Shuaizhang Feng, Jun Hyung Kim & Zhe Yang

  • Shuaizhang Feng
  • Jun Hyung Kim
  • Zhe Yang

Author 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.

GLO Discussion Papers are research and policy papers of the GLO Network which are widely circulated to encourage discussion. Provided in cooperation with EconStor, a service of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, GLO Discussion Papers are among others listed in RePEc (see IDEAS,  EconPapers). Complete list of all GLO DPs – downloadable for free.

The Global Labor Organization (GLO) is an independent, non-partisan and non-governmental organization that functions as an international network and virtual platform to stimulate global research, debate and collaboration.

Further on peer effects for children:

Chakraborty, Tanika & Schüller, Simone & Zimmermann, Klaus F. (2019), Beyond the Average: Ethnic Capital Heterogeneity and Intergenerational Transmission of Education, GLO Discussion Paper No. 322. Published in: Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization (JEBO), Vol. 163 (2019), pp. 551-569. Published PDF.

Ends;