Relative Obesity and the Formation of Non-cognitive Abilities During Adolescence

We study the role relative childhood and adolescent obesity plays in the development of non-cognitive abilities. We employ a novel identification strategy: utilizing the fact that one's body size is a relative concept and that there are large variations in body sizes across MSAs. We focus on children who move between MSAs. Controlling for origin-destination state pair fixed effects, we find that becoming relatively heavier as a result of moving leads to increased behavioral problems. Overweight boys during adolescence have more externalizing problems when their relative weight increase.