The Health Cost of Attending Higher-Achievement Schools: Peer Effects on Adolescents’ Academic Performance and Mental Health

Abstract

AbstractIt is important to examine the effects of peer groups on students’ development as schools are sites of social interaction for children and adolescents. By analyzing nationally representative survey data of junior high school students, this paper examines the two functions of peer groups (social conformity function and social contrast function) on students’ academic performance and mental health within the context of intense educational competition in China. It finds that peer groups have a “double-edged sword” effect on adolescents’ development. Attending elite schools or classes has positive effects on students’ academic performance and negatively affects their mental health. Simply put, attending elite schools may be accompanied by health deficits in adolescents. On the other hand, the heterogeneity of peers’ academic ability is positively related to students’ test scores but has no effects on their mental health. At the end of the paper, the authors suggests that reducing the intensity of educational competition and improving ability-based integration among students in schools are conducive to promoting adolescents’ positive development.KeywordsAdolescent developmentEducational competitionPeer groupAcademic performanceMental health