IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/23542.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Impact of Alcohol on Mental Health, Physical Fitness, and Job Performance

Author

Listed:
  • Marigee Bacolod
  • Jesse M. Cunha
  • Yu-Chu Shen

Abstract

We study the impact of legal access to alcohol on a range of behavioral and physical outcomes of U.S. Army soldiers in a regression discontinuity design. The wealth of novel data collected by the military on cognitive ability, psychological health, and family history allows us to explore how impacts vary with risk factors for alcohol consumption. Overall, we observe a large and significant increase in drinking after the 21st birthday, but the increases are largest amongst those who were depressed, had a family history of mental health problems, had better coping ability, and had higher cognitive ability. Despite the large increase in consumption, we do not find any meaningful impacts of legal access to alcohol - overall or in any sub-group - on any of the short-term outcomes we observe, including suicidal tendencies, depression, tobacco use, physical fitness, psychological health, deployability, smoking, and job-related infractions. Acknowledging the limitations for extrapolation out of sample, we discuss the policy implications of our results.

Suggested Citation

  • Marigee Bacolod & Jesse M. Cunha & Yu-Chu Shen, 2017. "The Impact of Alcohol on Mental Health, Physical Fitness, and Job Performance," NBER Working Papers 23542, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23542
    Note: EH
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w23542.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yörük, BarIs K. & Yörük, Ceren Ertan, 2011. "The impact of minimum legal drinking age laws on alcohol consumption, smoking, and marijuana use: Evidence from a regression discontinuity design using exact date of birth," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 740-752, July.
    2. Carrell, Scott E. & Hoekstra, Mark & West, James E., 2011. "Does drinking impair college performance? Evidence from a regression discontinuity approach," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(1-2), pages 54-62, February.
    3. Dee, Thomas S., 1999. "The complementarity of teen smoking and drinking," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(6), pages 769-793, December.
    4. Lindo, Jason M. & Swensen, Isaac D. & Waddell, Glen R., 2013. "Alcohol and student performance: Estimating the effect of legal access," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 22-32.
    5. Crost, Benjamin & Guerrero, Santiago, 2012. "The effect of alcohol availability on marijuana use: Evidence from the minimum legal drinking age," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 112-121.
    6. Christopher Carpenter & Carlos Dobkin, 2009. "The Effect of Alcohol Consumption on Mortality: Regression Discontinuity Evidence from the Minimum Drinking Age," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 164-182, January.
    7. Christopher Carpenter & Carlos Dobkin, 2011. "The Minimum Legal Drinking Age and Public Health," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 25(2), pages 133-156, Spring.
    8. N. E. Savin, 1980. "The Bonferroni and the Scheffé Multiple Comparison Procedures," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 47(1), pages 255-273.
    9. Bachman, J.G. & Freedman-Doan, P. & O'Malley, P.M. & Johnston, L.D. & Segal, D.R., 1999. "Changing patterns of drug use among US military recruits before and after enlistment," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 89(5), pages 672-677.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lutz Bellmann & Olaf Hübler, 2022. "Personality traits, working conditions and health: an empirical analysis based on the German Linked Personnel Panel, 2013–2017," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 283-318, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marigee Bacolod & Jesse M. Cunha & Yu‐Chu Shen, 2020. "When young soldiers drink: The impact of legal access to alcohol among U.S. Army soldiers," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 87(2), pages 576-607, October.
    2. Jason M. Lindo & Peter Siminski & Oleg Yerokhin, 2016. "Breaking The Link Between Legal Access To Alcohol And Motor Vehicle Accidents: Evidence From New South Wales," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(7), pages 908-928, July.
    3. Vijetha Koppa, 2018. "The Effect of Alcohol Access on Sexually Transmitted Diseases: Evidence From the Minimum Legal Drinking Age," American Journal of Health Economics, MIT Press, vol. 4(2), pages 164-184, Spring.
    4. Briggs Depew & Jacob Meyer, 2023. "Legal access to alcohol and automobile accidents: Potential interactive effects of alcohol and drug consumption," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 41(2), pages 338-353, April.
    5. Jason M. Fletcher, 2019. "Estimating Causal Effects Of Alcohol Access And Use On A Broad Set Of Risky Behaviors: Regression Discontinuity Evidence," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 37(3), pages 427-448, July.
    6. Ahammer, Alexander & Bauernschuster, Stefan & Halla, Martin & Lachenmaier, Hannah, 2022. "Minimum legal drinking age and the social gradient in binge drinking," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    7. Yörük, Barış K., 2014. "Can technology help to reduce underage drinking? Evidence from the false ID laws with scanner provision," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 33-46.
    8. Ceren Ertan Yörük & Barış Yörük, 2015. "Alcohol consumption and risky sexual behavior among young adults: evidence from minimum legal drinking age laws," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 28(1), pages 133-157, January.
    9. Ertan Yörük, Ceren & Yörük, Barış K., 2012. "The impact of drinking on psychological well-being: Evidence from minimum drinking age laws in the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(10), pages 1844-1854.
    10. Lindo, Jason M. & Swensen, Isaac D. & Waddell, Glen R., 2013. "Alcohol and student performance: Estimating the effect of legal access," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 22-32.
    11. Ha, Joung Yeob & Smith, Austin C., 2019. "Legal access to alcohol and academic performance: Who is affected?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 19-22.
    12. Christopher S. Carpenter & Carlos Dobkin & Casey Warman, 2016. "The Mechanisms of Alcohol Control," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 51(2), pages 328-356.
    13. Dehos, Fabian T., 2022. "Underage access to alcohol and its impact on teenage drinking and crime," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    14. Dehos, Fabian & Mensen, Anne, 2022. "Binge drinking and alcohol related hospital stays: Does a legal drinking age matter for minors?," Ruhr Economic Papers 958, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    15. Dehos, Fabian, 2020. "Legal access to alcohol and its impact on drinking and crime," Ruhr Economic Papers 884, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    16. Kabir Dasgupta & Alexander Plum & Christopher Erwin, 2022. "The Devil is in the Details: Identifying Unbiased Link between Alcohol Purchasing Rights and Youth Delinquency," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 84(6), pages 1380-1431, December.
    17. Kabir Dasgupta & Christopher Erwin & Alexander Plum, 2020. "The Devil is in the Details: Identifying the Unbiased Link between Access to Alcohol and Criminal Behavior," Working Papers 2020-12, Auckland University of Technology, Department of Economics.
    18. Erik Nesson & Vinish Shrestha, 2021. "The effects of false identification laws on underage alcohol‐related traffic fatalities," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(9), pages 2264-2283, September.
    19. Marco Francesconi & Jonathan James, 2022. "Alcohol Price Floors and Externalities: The Case of Fatal Road Crashes," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(4), pages 1118-1156, September.
    20. Zheng, Emily Yiying, 2018. "Can technology really help to reduce underage drinking? New evidence on the effects of false ID laws with scanner provisions," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 102-112.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23542. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.