Risky behavior among youths : an economic analysis / / edited by Jonathan Gruber

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910956448903321
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Chicago, : University of Chicago Press, c2001
• ISBN: 9786612004865; 9781282004863; 1282004867; 9780226309972; 0226309975
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (551 p.)
• Collana: National Bureau of Economic Research conference report
• Altri autori (Persone): GruberJonathan
• Disciplina: 305.235
• Soggetti: Decision making in adolescence - Economic aspects; Risk-taking (Psychology) in adolescence - Economic aspects; Youth - Psychology - Economic aspects
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
• Nota di contenuto: Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Risky Behavior among Youths -- 2. Youth Smoking in the United States -- 3. Teens and Traffic Safety -- 4. The Sexual Activity and Birth-Control Use of American Teenagers -- 5. Explaining the Rise in Youth Suicide -- 6. Marijuana and Youth -- 7. The Determinants of Juvenile Crime -- 8. Environment and Persistence in Youthful Drinking Patterns -- 9. Dropout and Enrollment Trends in the Postwar Period -- 10. Youths at Nutrition Risk -- Contributors -- Author Index -- Subject Index
• Sommario/riassunto: Every day young people engage in risky behaviors that affect not only their immediate well-being but their long-term health and safety. These well-honed essays apply diverse economic analyses to a wide range of unsafe activities, including teen drinking and driving, smoking, drug use, unprotected sex, and criminal activity. Economic principles are further applied to mental health and performance issues such as teenage depression, suicide, nutritional disorders, and high school dropout rates. Together, the essays yield notable findings: price ; and regulatory incentives are critical determinants of high-risk behavior, suggesting that youths do apply some sort of cost/benefit calculation when making decisions; the macroeconomic environment in which those decisions are made matters greatly; and youths who pursue high-risk behaviors are significantly more likely to engage in similar behaviors as adults. This important volume provides both a key data source for public policy makers and a clear affirmation of the usefulness of economic analysis to our understanding of risky behavior.