Student time allocation and self-rated performance – Evidence from a sample survey in Sicily (Italy)

The paper collects the results of a survey performed in 2010 aimed at analysing how high school students in the province of Messina in Sicily (Italy) spend their time. Principally, is analyzed the interaction between use of time, scholastic performance and time dedicated to study. So, we propose an estimation model for the daily study-time of students. From a methodological point of view, using a two stage regression procedure to estimate self-rate performance and time devoted to study allows to correct the estimates by simultaneity effects between these variables. In the first stage, the self-rate performance at school is estimated in a reduced form and is used as a proxy of scholastic performance in the second step. Next, we run an ordinal regression in order to estimate the hours dedicated to study declared by the student. The results obtained show that students with a high expected value of study-time come from lyceum, they are mostly females, and tend to read more. Furthermore, they have satisfactory scholastic performance, are helped by their mothers when they do their homework, have a lower- than-average age difference with their mothers, but a higher-than-average age difference with their fathers.