Ulf Gerdtham
Professor
Grading bias and young adult mental health
Author
Summary, in English
We study exposure to grading bias and provide novel evidence of its impact on mental health. Grading bias, which we interpret as over-grading, is constructed as the residual of final upper secondary school grades having controlled for results in a standardized test, itself not subject to grading leniency. Grading bias is further isolated by considering only within-school variation in over-grading and controlling for prior grades and school production. Using Swedish individual-level register data for individuals graduating from upper secondary school in the years 2001-2004, we show that over-grading has substantial significant protective impacts on the mental health of young adults, but only among female students. That grades themselves, independent of knowledge, substantially impact the production of health highlights an important health production mechanism, and implies that any changes to the design of grading systems must consider these wider health implications.
Department/s
- Centre for Economic Demography
- Health Economics
- Department of Economics
Publishing year
2023
Language
English
Pages
675-696
Publication/Series
Health Economics
Volume
32
Issue
3
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Topic
- Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology
Keywords
- grade inflation
- grading bias
- human capital development
- mental health
- I21
- I28
- I10
Status
Published
Research group
- Health Economics
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1099-1050