TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Gambardella, Giulia
AU  - Lenda, Ilham Ben
AU  - Mangiavacchi, Lucia
AU  - Piccoli, Luca
        TI  - The Burden of Comparison: Relative Socioeconomic Position and Adolescent Socioemotional Development
        PY  - 2025/Aug/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 18060
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp18060
        AB  - This paper examines how an adolescent's relative socioeconomic status (SES) within their school influences their socioemotional development and well-being. Although peer effects on academic outcomes are well-documented, less is known about how an individual's socioeconomic rank among peers shapes non-cognitive skills. Using PISA 2022 data and a school fixed effects model, we investigate the relationship between two measures of relative SES—Socioeconomic Rank and Socioeconomic Gap—and a range of outcomes, including socioemotional skills, self-esteem, and attitudes toward school. Our results show that higher within-school SES rank is significantly associated with better socioemotional skills, greater well-being, and stronger academic motivation. We also find important heterogeneity by gender and migrant background. These findings highlight that an individual's relative socioeconomic position, beyond absolute resources, plays a critical role in shaping adolescent non-cognitive development.
        KW  - relative position
KW  - socio-economic status
KW  - socio-emotional skills
KW  - adolescents
        ER  -