Impact of corrupt admission on the mental health of Chinese adolescents

Through preferential treatment by education officials or through bribery, some adolescents can obtain admission to a junior high school. However, it is unclear whether it affects the mental health of adolescents. This study used Propensity Score Matching to examine the effects of corruption on adolescent mental health. A total of 17,254 junior high school students sample (11–18 years old; 48.7% girls and 53.1% boys) were used from the China Education Panel Survey. 14.1% of adolescents attended a junior high school by corrupt means, corruption had a significantly negative effect on the mental health of these adolescents (ATT = −0.388, p