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READING, WRITING, AND SEX: THE EFFECT OF LOSING VIRGINITY ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
Author(s) -
SABIA JOSEPH J.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
economic inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1465-7295
pISSN - 0095-2583
DOI - 10.1111/j.1465-7295.2007.00056.x
Subject(s) - virginity test , sexual intercourse , ordinary least squares , longitudinal study , set (abstract data type) , demography , reading (process) , point (geometry) , psychology , economics , fixed effects model , demographic economics , econometrics , panel data , statistics , population , mathematics , sociology , political science , computer science , geometry , psychoanalysis , law , programming language
Controlling for a wide set of individual‐ and family‐level observables available in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, ordinary least squares (OLS) estimates show that sexually active adolescents have grade point averages that are approximately 0.2 points lower than virgins. However, when information on the timing of intercourse decisions is exploited and individual fixed effects are included, the negative effect of sexual intercourse disappears for females, but persists for males. Taken together, the results of this study suggest that while there may be adverse academic spillovers from engaging in intercourse for some adolescents, previous studies’ estimates are overstated due to unmeasured heterogeneity. ( JEL I10, I21, I18)