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Religious participation and risky health behaviors among adolescents

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  • Jennifer M. Mellor
  • Beth A. Freeborn

Abstract

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. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Jennifer M. Mellor & Beth A. Freeborn, 2011. "Religious participation and risky health behaviors among adolescents," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(10), pages 1226-1240, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:20:y:2011:i:10:p:1226-1240
    DOI: 10.1002/hec.1666
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    1. Religiosity and risky behavior
      by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2009-09-09 19:00:00

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    3. Hasan, Md Zabir & Kennedy, Caitlin E. & Adhikari, Binita & Ahuja, Akshay & Gupta, Shivam, 2024. "Bridging the gap or widening the divide? Exploring the dual role of social capital in healthcare financing in rural Uttar Pradesh, India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 351(C).
    4. Laeven, Luc & Popov, Alexander & Sievert, Clara, 2024. "Is religion an inferior good? Evidence from fluctuations in housing wealth," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 705-725.
    5. Jane Cooley Fruehwirth & Sriya Iyer & Anwen Zhang, 2019. "Religion and Depression in Adolescence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(3), pages 1178-1209.
    6. Jason Delaney & John Winters, 2014. "Sinners or Saints? Preachers’ Kids and Risky Health Behaviors," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 35(4), pages 464-476, December.
    7. Nielsen, Jytte Seested & Bech, Mickael & Christensen, Kaare & Kiil, Astrid & Hvidt, Niels Christian, 2017. "Risk aversion and religious behaviour: Analysis using a sample of Danish twins," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 21-29.
    8. Fletcher, Jason & Kumar, Sanjeev, 2014. "Religion and risky health behaviors among U.S. adolescents and adults," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 123-140.
    9. Mendolia, Silvia & Paloyo, Alfredo R. & Walker, Ian, 2018. "The effect of religiosity on adolescent risky behaviors," Ruhr Economic Papers 755, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    10. Casidy, Riza & Phau, Ian & Lwin, Michael, 2016. "The role of religious leaders on digital piracy attitude and intention," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 244-252.
    11. Sriya Iyer, 2016. "The New Economics of Religion," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(2), pages 395-441, June.
    12. Jane Cooley Fruehwirth & Sriya Iyer & Anwen Zhang, 2016. "Religion and Depression in Adolescence," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1613, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
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    14. Villalonga-Olives, E. & Kawachi, I., 2017. "The dark side of social capital: A systematic review of the negative health effects of social capital," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 105-127.
    15. Michael W. Walrath, 2016. "Entry Models Applied to Churches: Could Protestants use a Catholic Bishop to Solve Excess Entry?," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(3), pages 557-588, September.
    16. Cesur, Resul & Freidman, Travis & Sabia, Joseph J., 2020. "War, traumatic health shocks, and religiosity," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 475-502.
    17. Liang, Yinhe & Dong, Zhiyong, 2019. "Has education led to secularization? Based on the study of compulsory education law in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 324-336.
    18. You, Kai, 2011. "Education, risk perceptions, and health behaviors," MPRA Paper 35535, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Blázquez, Maite & Sánchez-Mangas, Rocío, 2023. "General and COVID19-specific emotional stress: Religious practice as a potential coping strategy," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    20. Mendolia Silvia & Paloyo Alfredo & Walker Ian, 2019. "Intrinsic Religiosity, Personality Traits, and Adolescent Risky Behaviors," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 19(3), pages 1-16, July.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion

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