The Role of Adolescent Health in Adult SES Outcomes

This paper explores the effects of adolescent health and adolescent mental health on long-term socioeconomic outcomes in the United States. Within-twin estimations are employed to overcome the bias generated by unobserved family background and genetic traits. The results indicate that poor adolescent health reduces long-term health, earnings, and household income. Accounting for life-cycle effects suggests that the effect of poor adolescent health on household income and earnings increases over the life cycle. Finally, we demonstrate that the effects on income are a consequence of the persistence of adolescent health on future health.