revised version published as 'Younger, Dissatisfied, and Unhealthy? Relative Age and Life-satisfaction in Adolescence' (with additional coauthor: Francesco Sarracino) in: Economics & Human Biology, 2019, 168, 313 - 337
This is the first study to investigate whether age gaps between classmates (that is, relative age) affect life-satisfaction gaps in adolescence. To this end, we analyse data from the multi-country Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) survey. We find evidence that relative age negatively impacts adolescents' life-satisfaction. A twelve-month age gap decreases life-satisfaction, rated on a 0-10 scale, by 0.3 points. This negative effect is consistent across countries. Finally, this negative effect does not decrease with the increase in absolute age.
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