IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/9638.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Alcohol Abuse and Suicide Attempts Among Youth - Correlation or Causation?

Author

Listed:
  • Pinka Chatterji
  • Dhaval Dave
  • Robert Kaestner
  • Sara Markowitz

Abstract

This study uses the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) and the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS) to explore the causal relationship between alcohol abuse (binge drinking and clinically defined alcohol use disorders) and suicide attempts among youth. We use an empirical approach that allows one to assess the existence and strength of a causal relationship without relying on identifying assumptions. Our results suggest that a causal relationship between binge drinking and suicide attempts is very unlikely. The findings, however, support a causal relationship between clinically defined alcohol use disorders and suicide attempts among girls.

Suggested Citation

  • Pinka Chatterji & Dhaval Dave & Robert Kaestner & Sara Markowitz, 2003. "Alcohol Abuse and Suicide Attempts Among Youth - Correlation or Causation?," NBER Working Papers 9638, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:9638
    Note: CH EH
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w9638.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joseph G. Altonji & Todd E. Elder & Christopher R. Taber, 2005. "Selection on Observed and Unobserved Variables: Assessing the Effectiveness of Catholic Schools," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(1), pages 151-184, February.
    2. Deykin, E.Y. & Buka, S.L., 1994. "Suicidal ideation and attempts among chemically dependent adolescents," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 84(4), pages 634-639.
    3. Sara Markowitz, 2001. "The Role of Alcohol and Drug Consumption in Determining Physical Fights and Weapon Carrying by Teenagers," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 27(4), pages 409-432, Fall.
    4. David M. Cutler & Edward L. Glaeser & Karen E. Norberg, 2001. "Explaining the Rise in Youth Suicide," NBER Chapters, in: Risky Behavior among Youths: An Economic Analysis, pages 219-270, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Felts, W.M. & Chenier, T. & Barnes, R., 1992. "Drug use and suicide ideation and behavior among North Carolina public school students," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 82(6), pages 870-872.
    6. Jonathan Gruber, 2001. "Risky Behavior among Youths: An Economic Analysis," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number grub01-1.
    7. Sara Markowitz & Michael Grossman, 1998. "Alcohol Regulation And Domestic Violence Towards Children," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 16(3), pages 309-320, July.
    8. Jones, N.E. & Pieper, C.F. & Robertson, L.S., 1992. "The effect of legal drinking age on fatal injuries of adolescents and young adults," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 82(1), pages 112-115.
    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. Hjalmarsson, Randi, 2008. "Criminal justice involvement and high school completion," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 613-630, March.
    2. van Ours, Jan C. & Williams, Jenny & Fergusson, David & Horwood, L. John, 2013. "Cannabis use and suicidal ideation," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 524-537.

    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. Chatterji, Pinka & Dave, Daval & Kaestner, Robert & Markowitz, Sara, 2004. "Alcohol abuse and suicide attempts among youth," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 159-180, June.
    2. Sara Markowitz & Pinka Chatterji & Robert Kaestner & Dhaval Dave, 2002. "Substance Use and Suicidal Behaviors Among Young Adults," NBER Working Papers 8810, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. David Figlio & Jens Ludwig, 2012. "Sex, Drugs, and Catholic Schools: Private Schooling and Non-Market Adolescent Behaviors," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 13(4), pages 385-415, November.
    4. Ruiz Sánchez, Gerardo, 2021. "Monthly suicide rates during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from Japan," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    5. Philip J. Cook & Jens Ludwig, 2002. "The Effects of Gun Prevalence on Burglary: Deterrence vs Inducement," NBER Working Papers 8926, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Deborah A. Cobb-Clark & Sonja C. Kassenboehmer & Trinh Le & Duncan McVicar & Rong Zhang, 2015. "‘High’-School: The Relationship between Early Marijuana Use and Educational Outcomes," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 91(293), pages 247-266, June.
    7. Nadia Campaniello & Theodoros M. Diasakos & Giovanni Mastrobuoni, 2017. "Rationalizable Suicides: Evidence from Changes in Inmates’ Expected Length of Sentence," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 388-428.
    8. Núria Rodríquez-Planas, 2010. "Mentoring, Educational Services, and Economic Incentives Longer-term Evidence on Risky Behaviors from a Randomized Trial," Working Papers 462, Barcelona School of Economics.
    9. Charles, Kerwin Kofi & Stephens, Melvin, Jr, 2006. "Abortion Legalization and Adolescent Substance Use," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 49(2), pages 481-505, October.
    10. Krauth, Brian V., 2007. "Peer and Selection Effects on Youth Smoking in California," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 25, pages 288-298, July.
    11. Nelson, Jon P., 2001. "Alcohol Advertising and Advertising Bans: A Survey of Research Methods, Results, and Policy Implications," Working Papers 7-01-2, Pennsylvania State University, Department of Economics.
    12. Trinh Le, 2013. "Does Participation in Extracurricular Activities Reduce Engagement in Risky Behaviours?," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2013n35, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    13. Marko Korhonen & Mikko Puhakka & Matti Viren, 2016. "Economic hardship and suicide mortality in Finland, 1875–2010," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 17(2), pages 129-137, March.
    14. Brian Krauth, 2003. "Peer effects and selection effects in youth smoking," Computing in Economics and Finance 2003 222, Society for Computational Economics.
    15. Anderson, D. Mark & Rees, Daniel I. & Sabia, Joseph J., 2012. "High on Life? Medical Marijuana Laws and Suicide," IZA Discussion Papers 6280, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Hempstead, Dr. Katherine & Andres, Dr. Antonio Rodriguez, 2009. "Gun control and suicide: The impact of state firearm regulations, 1995-2004," MPRA Paper 20728, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Brian Krauth, 2005. "Peer effects and selection effects on smoking among Canadian youth," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 38(3), pages 735-757, August.
    18. João Jalles & Martin Andresen, 2015. "The social and economic determinants of suicide in Canadian provinces," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 1-12, December.
    19. Jon P. Nelson, 2010. "What is Learned from Longitudinal Studies of Advertising and Youth Drinking and Smoking? A Critical Assessment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-57, March.
    20. Shannon Ward & Jenny Williams, 2015. "Does Juvenile Delinquency Reduce Educational Attainment?," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(4), pages 716-756, December.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

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

    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:9638. 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.