Economic analysis of the early-life determinants and later-life health impacts of non-cognitive skills in adolescence

Abstract

Much of the current evidence on how non-cognitive skills are determined and affect outcomes in later-life focuses on these skills measured in childhood and adulthood. However, adolescence is a key period for shaping individual capabilities. This thesis furthers the literature on the determinants and long-term health consequences of adolescent non-cognitive skills. Throughout, I use data from the National Child Development Study, a longitudinal study of individuals born in the first week of March 1958. Firstly, I examine whether parental education causally determines aggregate and facet-level adolescent non-cognitive skills. I exploit exogenous variation in parental education generated by the 1947 raising of the school leaving age. The reform increased maternal education by an average of 7.0 months and paternal education by 4.6 months. The increase in mothers’ education led to increases in conscientiousness through one of its facets, rigidity. The increase in fathers’ education led to decreases in agreeableness through three of its facets (respect for property, obedience and truthfulness). Secondly, I examine the association between adolescent non-cognitive skills and physiological health and mortality at ages 44 and 58. I decompose the total associations into direct and indirect associations operating through employment status, education, smoking behaviour, drinking behaviour and relationship status at age 33. The results show that adolescent non-cognitive skills are associated with physiological health and mortality through their effects on well-known risk factors: smoking and education. Finally, I examine the association between adolescent non-cognitive skills and the whole unconditional distribution of objective and subjective health. Higher conscientiousness is associated with a better stress response and lower risk of cardiovascular disease. Higher agreeableness is associated with better health-related quality of life, better physiological health, but a worse stress response. Higher neuroticism is associated with worse health-related quality of life and physiological health, and higher cardiovascular risk. For all health outcomes except cardiovascular risk, the associations are greatest at the extreme of the distribution indicating worse health. Future research should seek to understand these relationships further, to develop effective interventions and convince policy makers to intervene.

Date of Award	1 Aug 2021
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Matthew Sutton (Supervisor), Alexander Turner (Supervisor) & Tarani Chandola (Supervisor)