PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Stenberg, Anders
AU  - Tudor, Simona
TI  - Field of Study and Mental Health in Adulthood
AID  - 10.3368/jhr.0124-13353R2
DP  - 2024 Nov 07
TA  - Journal of Human Resources
PG  - 0124-13353R2
4099  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2024/11/04/jhr.0124-13353R2.short
4100  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2024/11/04/jhr.0124-13353R2.full
AB  - We analyze whether field of study assigned at age 16 impacts mental health in adulthood. Using a regression discontinuity design that exploits GPA cutoffs, we find that admission to a preferred STEM field improves mental health, lowering both the incidence of antidepressant prescriptions and of mental health-related hospitalizations. As for mechanisms, suggestive evidence indicate that earnings explain about 40% of the estimates, but earlier proposed hypotheses based on schoolage peer characteristics such as ability rank, female shares or peer ability levels, have little explanatory power. Our findings imply that restrictions on individuals’ choices entail costs that may have been underestimated.