Roommate effects in health outcomes

Frijters, Paul, Islam, Asad, Lalji, Chitwan and Pakrashi, Debayan (2019) Roommate effects in health outcomes. Health Economics (United Kingdom), 28 (8). 998 - 1034. ISSN 1057-9230

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Abstract

We use randomized roommate assignment in dormitories in a college in Kolkata in India to examine peer effects in weight gains among roommates. We use administrative data on weight, height, and test scores of students at the time of college admission and then survey these students at the end of their first and second years in college. We do not find any significant roommate specific peer effect in weight gain. Our results rather suggest that an obese roommate reduces the probability that the other roommates become obese in subsequent years. We examine potential mechanism using survey data on students' eating habits, smoking, exercise, and sleeping patterns. We find that obese roommates sleep longer, which in turn improves the sleep pattern of others, which might explain the weak negative effect of obese roommates on the weight of others in the same room.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10991050
Additional Information:	© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Divisions:	Centre for Economic Performance
Subjects:	R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology
JEL classification:	D - Microeconomics > D9 - Intertemporal Choice and Growth > D90 - General
Date Deposited:	23 Apr 2020 09:33
Last Modified:	12 Dec 2024 02:08
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/104117

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