Non-cognitive peer effects in early education: The influence of children born to teenage mothers on peers’ behavioral problems

This paper investigates the influence of early exposure to peers born to teenage mothers on young children's behavioral problems. We use data from a nationally representative sample of US children and exploit the quasi-random allocation of children across classes within schools during the first year of kindergarten to estimate causal effects. The results indicate that exposure to peers born to teenage mothers negatively impacts students’ internalizing behavior and cognitive performance. This effect is mainly driven by peers with very young mothers. The internalizing behavior of peers from teenage mothers emerges as a possible mechanism for the observed impact.