TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Stenberg, Anders
AU  - Tudor, Simona
        TI  - Field of Study and Mental Health in Adulthood
        PY  - 2023/Dec/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 16701
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp16701
        AB  - We analyze whether field of study assigned at age 16 impacts mental health in adulthood. Using a regression discontinuity design that exploits GPA cut-offs, we find that admission to the preferred study field improves mental health, lowering both the incidence of antidepressant prescriptions and of mental health-related hospitalizations. Engineering contributes strongly but not uniquely to the positive results. As for mechanisms, earnings explain 40% of the estimates, but earlier proposed hypotheses based on school-age peer characteristics have little explanatory power. Our findings imply that restrictions on individuals' choices, to improve human capital allocations, entail costs that may have been underestimated.
        KW  - secondary education
KW  - health
KW  - field of study
        ER  -