We investigate whether relative age (i.e. the age gap between classmates) affects life satisfaction and health in adolescence. We analyse data on students between 10 and 17 years of age from the international survey 'Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children' and find robust evidence that a twelve-month increase in relative age (i.e. the hypothetical maximum age gap between classmates) i) increases life satisfaction by 0.168 standard deviations, ii) increases self-rated general health by 0.108 standard deviations, iii) decreases psychosomatic complaints by 0.072 standard deviations, and iv) decreases chances of being overweight by 2.4 %. These effects are comparable in size to the effects of students' household socio-economic status. Finally, gaps in life satisfaction are the only ones to reduce with the increase in absolute age, but only in countries where the first tracking of students occurs at 14 years of age or later.

中文翻译：

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年轻，不满意和不健康-青春期的相对年龄。

我们调查相对年龄（即同班同学之间的年龄差距）是否影响青春期的生活满意度和健康状况。我们从国际调查“学龄儿童的健康行为”中分析了10至17岁学生的数据，并找到有力的证据表明相对年龄增加了12个月（即，同班同学之间假设的最大年龄差距）i）将生活满意度提高0.168个标准差，ii）将自我评估的总体健康水平提高0.108个标准差，iii）将心身不适的投诉降低0.072个标准差，iv）将超重的机会降低2.4％。这些影响在规模上与学生的家庭社会经济地位的影响相当。最后，随着绝对年龄的增长，生活满意度的差距是唯一可以减少的差距，