The peer effect of migrant children on students’ non-cognitive outcomes: Evidence from China

Abstract

Promoting education equity and ensuring education quality may conflict in some cases. This article examines the peer effect of migrant children on students’ non-cognitive outcomes in the context of China where many internal migrant children are enrolled in local public schools. We identify the peer effect by focusing on the students randomly assigned to classes based on a nationally representative survey of middle schools in China. We construct non-cognitive measures based on the Big Five personality theory using principal component analysis (PCA). The results show that having a higher proportion of migrant children in class impairs students’ non-cognitive outcomes, which mainly work by negatively affecting the classroom atmosphere and reducing teacher-student interactions. Further analysis reveals that improving teacher quality and increasing the frequency of parent-child communications can alleviate the negative peer effects. These results can help governments formulate policies to achieve both education equity and education quality.