Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

Karlstad University Working Papers in Economics,
Karlstad University, Department of Economics

No 9: Class-Size Effects on Adolescents’ Mental Health and Well-Being in Swedish School

Jakobsson Niklas (), Mattias Persson () and Mikael Svensson ()
Additional contact information
Jakobsson Niklas: Dept. of Economics, Postal: Dept of Economics, Karlstad University, Universitetsgatan 1, SE 651 88 Karlstad, Sweden
Mattias Persson: Örebro University
Mikael Svensson: Dept. of Economics, Postal: Dept of Economics, Karlstad University, Universitetsgatan 1, SE 651 88 Karlstad, Sweden

Abstract: This paper analyzes whether class size has an effect on the prevalence of mental health problems and well-being among adolescents in Swedish schools. We use cross-sectional data collected in year 2008 covering 2,755 Swedish adolescents in 9th grade from 40 schools and 159 classes. We utilize different econometric approaches to address potential between- and within-school endogeneity including school-fixed effects and regression discontinuity approaches. Our results indicate no robust effects of class size on the prevalence of mental health problems and well-being, and we cannot reject the hypothesis that class size has no effect on mental health and well-being at all.

Keywords: mental health; well-being; class size; adolescents; Sweden.

JEL-codes: H75; I12; I21

30 pages, March 22, 2013

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2013_9_pdf_18347.pdf PDF-file

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Published as
Niklas Jakobsson, Mattias Persson and Mikael Svensson, (2013), 'Class-Size Effects on Adolescents’ Mental Health and Well-Being in Swedish School', Education Economics, vol 21, pages 248-263

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