Private schooling and unhealthy lifestyle in France

ABSTRACT

Using data which follow the educational trajectories of students during secondary education and measure health status during adulthood, this paper analyzes the effects of private schooling on a range of unhealthy lifestyle outcomes. To account for the non-random selection of students in French private schools I use propensity score matching. I find a positive effect of private schooling on the self-reported health status of girls and a negative effect for boys. These results are related to those on risky behaviours: I find that enrolment in a private school reduces the likelihood of daily smoking for girls, but increases the likelihood of drinking multiple times a week for boys, twelve years after sixth grade. A set of robustness checks confirms the robustness of my results.

KEYWORDS:

• Private schools
• unhealthy lifestyle
• propensity score matching

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• I12
• I21
• I26

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ In this article I only consider private school under contract with the state that enrolled 98% of students in French private schools (MENJ – DEPP 2020).

² The dependent variables used in this article are variables representing lifestyle (see Fayissa and Gutema 2005; Grossman 1972, 1999). They are considered in Grossman (1972, 1999) as inputs for health.

³ Panel d'élèves du second degré, recrutement 1995, 1995-2011, DEPP - Ministère de l’Éducation [producer], ADISP-CMH [distributor].

⁴ Enquête sur l’entrée dans la vie adulte des élèves entrés en 6ème en 1995 (EVA), 2005-2012, INSEE [producer], ADISP [distributor].

⁵ It should be noted that in the United States, Catholic schools are known to have an environment associated with strong discipline (Figlio and Ludwig 2012; Mocan and Tekin 2006).

⁶ See for example Xue, Cheng, and Zhang (2021).