title: Separating boys and girls and increasing weight? Assessing the impacts of single-sex schools through random assignment in Seoul.
abstract: A growing body of research reports associations of school contexts with adolescents' weight and weight-related behaviors. One interesting, but under-researched, dimension of school context that potentially matters for adolescents' weight is the gender composition. If boys and girls are separated into single-sex schools, they might be less concerned about physical appearance, which may result in increased weight. Utilizing a unique setting in Seoul, Korea where students are randomly assigned to single-sex and coeducational schools within school districts, we estimate causal effects of single-sex schools on weight and weight-related behaviors. Our results show that students attending single-sex schools are more likely to be overweight, and that the effects are more pronounced for girls. We also find that girls in single-sex schools are less likely to engage in strenuous activities than their coeducational counterparts.
authors: Department of Economics, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: jaesungc@skku.edu.
authors: Jaesung
authors: J
authors: Choi
authors: Korea Foundation Associate Professor of Sociology and Education, Department of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
authors: Hyunjoon
authors: H
authors: Park
authors: William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Economics and Sociology, Department of Economics and Sociology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
authors: Jere R
authors: JR
authors: Behrman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D015992:Body Mass Index; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D050177:Overweight / Q000523:psychology; D011897:Random Allocation; D056910:Republic of Korea; D012574:Schools / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012931:Social Environment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D015430:Weight Gain / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Body mass index; Korea; Overweight; Random assignment; Single-sex schools