Peer Effects And Non-cognitive Skills

The formation of youth human capital has a great impetus to the development of society.As an important composition of human capital,non-cognitive skills have attracted wide attention around the world.Based on random field experiment,this paper explores the impact of peer effect on adolescents’ non-cognitive skills,and focuses on its impact mechanism.The research team conducted a random row assignment in three primary schools in a county of Hubei Province,China,and collected sample data through questionnaire survey.The study results show that each additional student cadre in the peer5 has a significant positive impact on the openness to experience and neuroticism of the students.For students of different genders,there are also significant differences in peer effects,and female will benefit more from the surrounding leadership positions.In this paper,three kinds of robustness checks are carried out on the empirical results:(1)Considering the omitted variable bias,the sensitivity check of R＿max bound is carried out;(2)Removing the samples without the desk mate and the number of front and behind desks which are less than two students.(3)The interest variable is changed from the number of leadership positions to the proportion of leadership positions in the group.The robustness checks show that our empirical results are stable.Considering that the selection of leadership positions is endogenous,we use the CEM matching method to balance the samples.The matched empirical results of the peer effect are consistent with the boutique model: the individual benefits from the surrounding environment that is similar to its own characteristics.In terms of impact mechanisms,we use the number of communication in the classroom as a delegate variable for social interaction.The results of one-way analysis of variance show that the interaction of students within the group explains the differences in peer effects among different groups.Finally,we properly discuss the relationship between cognitive skills and non-cognitive skills.However,due to the limitations of sample data,we cannot conduct further analysis.This is also the direction worthy of further research in the future.Based on the research results,it is recommended that school administrators use the theoretical basis of the boutique model in the process of perfecting the seat management system,fully taking into account the individual gender,ability and other characteristics of the students to prepare the class seating table,so that it benefits from its own characteristics.At the same time,strengthen the frequency and time of communication and cooperation between students inside and outside the classroom,and enhance the influence of the group effect through social interactions such as class discussion and group tasks,thereby enhancing students’ Non-cognitive skills level.