MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI)
Category: Student Well-Being
This article reviews the growing literature on age at school entry and its effects across the life course. Age at school entry affects a broad range of outcomes, including education, labor-market performance, health, social relationships, and family formation. We synthesize the evidence using a conceptual framework that distinguishes four empirically intertwined components of age-at-school-entry: starting age, age at outcome, relative age, and time in school. Within this framework, we highlight six key channels through which age at school entry operates. While age-at-school-entry effects are often substantial and persistent, many studies estimate bundled impacts without isolating specific components or directly measuring mechanisms. We explain how different research designs capture different combinations of these age-at-school-entry components. Methodological challenges, institutional heterogeneity, and behavioral responses complicate interpretation. A central lesson from the literature is that most estimated age-at-school-entry effects do not capture isolated maturity advantages, but instead reflect bundled timing and institutional mechanisms whose interpretation depends on outcome construction and empirical design. We conclude by identifying critical gaps, particularly around relative age and long-run outcomes, and outline directions for future research and policy design.
Keywords
Age at school entry, starting age, age at outcome, relative age, time in school, institutional mechanisms, quasi-experimental methods
Education level
Document Object Identifier (DOI)
10.26300/ysjw-xd37
