Religious participation and risky health behaviors among adolescents

Previous studies have shown that adolescent religious participation is negatively associated with risky health behaviors such as cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and illicit drug use. One explanation for these findings is that religion directly reduces risky behaviors because churches provide youths with moral guidance or with strong social networks that reinforce social norms. An alternative explanation is that both religious participation and risky health behaviors are driven by some common unobserved individual trait. We use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and implement an instrumental variables approach to identify the effect of religious participation on smoking, binge drinking, and marijuana use. Following Gruber (2005), we use a county-level measure of religious market density as an instrument. We find that religious market density has a strong positive association with adolescent religious participation, but not with secular measures of social capital. Upon accounting for unobserved heterogeneity, we find that religious participation continues to have a significant negative effect on illicit drug use. On the contrary, the estimated effects of attendance in instrumental variables models of binge drinking and smoking are statistically imprecise.     

Preferences,personality and health behaviors: results from an explorative economic experiment

This research note analyzes the relationship between experimentally elicited, incentivized economic preference parameters, personality traits, and three health behaviors: smoking, drinking, and physical activity. While there is a strand of economic research that uses proxy measures of risk and time preference that are not derived from an incentivized experiment and personality traits at the same time, and a considerably smaller one that uses experimentally elicited measures of risk and time preference only, the innovation of my work is to use experimentally elicited, incentivized preference measures and personality traits at the same time to explain a range of health behaviors. Findings presented in this paper suggest that personality traits seem to be more important determinants of health behaviors than economic preference parameters, and that Big Five personality traits, especially Agreeableness, seem to be more important determinants than the Grit score developed by Duckworth et al. (J Pers Soc Psychol 92(6):1087, 2007). When also controlling for a host of personality traits, risk preference is not related to the analyzed behaviors, but time preference is negatively related to smoking. When controlling for economic preferences and Big Five personality traits, the Grit score is unrelated to the analyzed health behaviors. Big Five openness is negatively related to the probability of engaging in physical activity, while Big Five agreeableness is negatively related to the probability of both drinking and binge drinking, but also to the probability of engaging in physical activity. Big Five neuroticism is negatively related to the probability of binge drinking.     

Youth alcohol use and risky sexual behavior: evidence from underage drunk driving laws

Recent research calls into question previous methods for estimating the relationship between alcohol use and risky sexual behavior among youths [Rashad, I., Kaestner, R., 2004. Teenage sex, drugs and alcohol use: problems identifying the cause of risky behaviors. Journal of Health Economics 23, 493-503]. This paper provides new evidence on this question by using reductions in heavy alcohol use among underage males induced by state adoption of very strict age-targeted "Zero Tolerance" drunk driving laws. I estimate reduced form models of the effects of Zero Tolerance laws on state gonorrhea rates by age group and race over the period 1981-2000, controlling for state and year fixed effects and state-specific time trends. I find that adoption of a Zero Tolerance law was associated with a significant reduction in gonorrhea rates among 15-19-year-old white males, with no effect for slightly older males age 20-24 whose drinking behavior was unaffected by the tougher policies. I find mixed effects for white females and no significant effects for blacks. While not conclusive, these results suggest an important role for alcohol use in risky sexual behavior among young men.     

Health shocks and risk aversion

We empirically assess whether a health shock influences individual risk aversion. We use grip strength data to obtain an objective health shock indicator. In order to account for the non-random nature of our data regression-adjusted matching is employed. Risk preferences are traditionally assumed to be constant. However, we find that a health shock increases individual risk aversion. The finding is robust to a series of sensitivity analyses and persists for at least four years after the shock. Income changes do not seem to be the driving mechanism.     

Physical dating violence among high school students--United States, 2003

Dating violence is defined as physical, sexual, or psychological violence within a dating relationship. In a study of dating violence victimization among students in grades 7-12 during 1994-1995, the 18-month prevalence of victimization from physical and psychological dating violence was estimated at 12% and 20%, respectively. In addition to the risk for injury and death, victims of dating violence are more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior, unhealthy dieting behaviors, substance use, and suicidal ideation/attempts. Dating violence victimization can be a precursor for intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization in adulthood, most notably among women. Among adult women in the United States, an estimated 5.3 million IPV incidents occur each year, resulting in approximately 2 million injuries and 1,300 deaths. By using data from the 2003 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), CDC analyzed the prevalence of physical dating violence (PDV) victimization among high school students and its association with five risk behaviors. The results indicated that 8.9% of students (8.9% of males and 8.8% of females) reported PDV victimization during the 12 months preceding the survey and that students reporting PDV victimization were more likely to engage in four of the five risk behaviors (i.e., sexual intercourse, attempted suicide, episodic heavy drinking, and physical fighting). Primary prevention programs are needed to educate high school students about healthy dating relationship behaviors, and secondary prevention programs should address risk behaviors associated with dating violence victimization.     

Health-risk behaviors and quality of life among young men

Purpose

To examine the associations between substance use and other health-risk behaviors and quality of life (QOL) among young men.

Methods

The analytical sample consisted of 5,306 young Swiss men who participated in the Cohort Study on Substance Use Risk Factors. Associations between seven distinct self-reported health-risk behaviors (risky single-occasion drinking; volume drinking; cigarette smoking; cannabis use; use of any other illicit drugs; sexual intercourse without a condom; low physical activity) were assessed via chi-square analysis. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to study the associations between each particular health-risk behavior and either physical or mental QOL (assessed with the SF-12v2) while adjusting for socio-demographic variables and the presence of all other health-risk behaviors.

Results

Most health-risk behaviors co-occurred. However, low physical activity was not or negatively related to other health-risk behaviors. Almost all health-risk behaviors were associated with a greater likelihood of compromised QOL. However, sexual intercourse without a condom (not associated with both physical and mental QOL) and frequent risky single-occasion drinking (not related to mental QOL after adjusting for the presence of other health-risk behaviors; positively associated with physical QOL) differed from this pattern.

Conclusions

Health-risk behaviors are mostly associated with compromised QOL. However, sexual intercourse without a condom and frequent risky single-occasion drinking differ from this pattern and are therefore possibly particularly difficult to change relative to other health-risk behaviors.     

How to make universal,voluntary testing for COVID-19 work? A behavioural economics perspective

Testing is widely seen as one core element of a successful strategy to curtail the COVID-19 pandemic and many countries have increased their efforts to provide testing at large scale. As most democratic governments refrain from enacting mandatory testing, a key emerging challenge is to increase voluntary participation. Using behavioural economics insights complemented with data from a novel survey in the US and a survey experiment in Luxembourg, we examine behavioural factors associated with the individual willingness to get tested (WTT). In our analysis, individual characteristics that correlate positively with WTT include age, altruism, conformism, the tendency to abide by government-imposed rules, concern about contracting COVID-19, and patience. Risk aversion, unemployment, and conservative political orientation correlate negatively with WTT. Building on and expanding these insights may prove fruitful for policy to effectively raise people's propensity to get tested.     

Sexual intentions of black preadolescents: associations with risk and adaptive behaviors

CONTEXT: Adolescent sexual activity in the United states is prevalent and occurring increasingly early, particularly among minority groups. Other risk behaviors (e.g., alcohol consumption) often co-occur with sexual behavior. By examining the association of risk and adaptive behaviors with precursors of sexual behavior--specifically, sexual intentions--it may be possible to identify preadolescents who are at increased risk for early sexual initiation. METHODS: Data from 1,090 black fourth and fifth graders and their parents from the Parents Matter! Program were used in logistic regression analyses to assess covariation between preadolescents' risk and adaptive behaviors, and their intentions to initiate sexual intercourse in the next year. RESULTS: Risk and adaptive behaviors, as reported by both preadolescents and parents, were associated with sexual intentions; the findings were not qualified by youth's gender. Alcohol consumption and having been in trouble with the police were the primary youth-reported risk behaviors associated with the odds of intending to have intercourse (odds ratios, 2.3 and 1.8); the preadolescent's being in trouble at home was the primary parent-reported risk behavior (2.1). In both sets of reports, performing well on schoolwork was associated with reduced odds of intending to engage in sex (0.5 - 0.6). CONCLUSIONS: Risk and adaptive behaviors are markers of sexual intentions among black preadolescents. Prevention programs can use these behaviors to identify black youth who may be at high risk for early sexual initiation.     

Risky Sex: Interactions Among Ethnicity, Sexual Sensation Seeking, Sexual Inhibition, and Sexual Excitation

Rates of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, vary across ethnic minority groups, yet few studies have evaluated sexual risk behaviors and their psychological correlates to determine if risk and protective factors vary by ethnicity. The purpose of the current study was to assess sexual sensation seeking (SSS), sexual inhibition (SIS1 and SIS2), and sexual excitation (SES) as correlates of risky sexual behaviors in 106 (55 male and 51 female) Asian Americans, African Americans, and Caucasian Americans. Results revealed that higher SSS was associated with more vaginal and anal sex partners. Further, the association between SSS and the number of anal sex partners was positive among Asian Americans and Caucasians, but non-significant among African Americans. SIS1 was positively associated with unprotected sex on the first date among Asian Americans and African Americans. However, the association was not significant for Caucasians. SIS2 was negatively associated with general unprotected sex, and SES was positively associated with the number of vaginal sex partners. Findings suggest that ethnicity plays an important moderating role in the relationship between sexual traits and risky sexual behaviors.     

Prevalence and Correlates of Sunscreen Use Among US High School Students

Sun exposure during childhood and adolescence increases the risk of skin cancer later in life. To determine the prevalence and correlates of sunscreen use among US high school students, researchers assessed data on sunscreen use, demographic characteristics, and health behaviors obtained from the 1999 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). This survey used a three-stage cluster sample design to produce a nationally representative sample of students in grades 9-12 (N = 15,349). Overall, 13.3% (95% confidence interval, +/- 1.3) of students used sunscreen always or most of the time (i.e., frequent use). Frequent sunscreen use was lower among males (8.6%, +/- 1.2) than females (18.1%, +/- 1.9) and among Blacks (4.8%, +/- 1.7) and Hispanics (10.8%, +/- 2.8) than Whites (16.5%, +/- 1.9). Frequent sunscreen use decreased with age. Infrequent use of sunscreen was associated with other risky health behaviors, such as driving after drinking or riding in a car with a drinking driver, smoking cigarettes, being sexually active, and being physically inactive. Results indicate a need for health education interventions addressing sunscreen use that target high school students.