Youth Alcohol, Tobacco and Marijuana Use: Effects of Hours of Work and Wages

描述(由申请者提供)：学龄青年工作的很大一部分及其后果可能引起社会的关注。青年就业与教育成就、社会发展和未来劳动力市场结果相关。虽然将工作和学校结合起来得到了公众的广泛支持，一些证据表明就业对青年发展有积极影响，但之前的研究也发现了学龄儿童就业的一些潜在有害后果。特别是，有相当多的证据表明，就业与酒精、香烟和大麻的使用呈正相关(国家研究理事会，1998年)。考虑到这些物品的成瘾性，青年就业和药物使用之间的积极关系尤其重要，这使青年面临终身使用和滥用这些物质的风险。以前的研究没有充分解决的一个关键政策问题是，就业在多大程度上导致青年开始或改变他们对潜在有害物质的使用，以及任何因果关系所依据的机制。一方面，就业可能不是青年吸毒的原因；青年就业与吸毒之间的任何联系可能只是反映了家庭背景等混杂因素的影响。或者，就业可能会对年轻人的物质使用产生因果影响。如果是这样的话，从公共政策的角度来看，重要的是确定将就业与青年药物使用联系起来的因果路径。拟议研究的目的是确定就业和赚取的收入对青年药物使用的重要性。虽然已经有几项研究探讨了就业、劳动收入和物质使用之间的关系，但这些研究都没有对因果关系作出估计，而因果关系对于制定有效的公共政策至关重要。以前研究的主要局限性是，就业、劳动收入和物质使用之间的关系可能会被忽略的变量混淆。在拟议的研究中，我们将通过使用最低工资和总经济活动(失业)的变化引起的就业和劳动收入的外生变化来控制混淆，以确定这些因素对物质使用的影响。项目与健康的相关性学龄青年有很大一部分工作，有证据表明，就业与酒精、香烟和大麻的使用呈正相关。这些物质的成瘾性质和使用药物可能造成的严重健康后果，突出表明了旨在减少青少年使用药物的公共卫生政策的重要性。拟议的研究将确定就业和赚取的收入对青年药物使用的重要性，并提供可用于制定有效的公共卫生政策以解决这一问题的信息。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A significant portion of school-aged youth work and the consequences of that work are of potential concern to society. Youth employment is associated with educational achievement, social development, and future labor market outcomes. While there is widespread public support for combining work and school, and some evidence that employment has positive effects on youth development, previous research has also uncovered some potentially harmful consequences of employment among school-aged teens. In particular, there is considerable evidence that employment is positively related to alcohol, cigarette and marijuana use (National Research Council 1998). The positive relationship between youth employment and substance use is especially important given the addictive nature of these goods, which puts youth at risk of a lifetime of use and abuse of these substances. A key policy question, which previous research has not adequately addressed, is to what extent employment causes youth to initiate or change their use of potentially harmful substances, and the mechanisms that underlie any causal relationship. On the one hand, employment may not be a cause of youth substance use; any association between youth employment and substance use may simply reflect the influence of a confounding factor such as family background. Alternatively, employment may causally affect youth substance use. If so, it is important from a public policy perspective to identify the causal pathway that links employment to youth substance use. The purpose of the proposed research is to identify the importance of employment and earned income on youth substance use. While there have been several studies that have examined the associations between employment, earned income and substance use, none of these studies have provided estimates of a causal relationship, which is essential to devising effective public policies. The primary limitation of previous studies is that the relationship between employment, earned income and substance use is likely to be confounded by omitted variables. In the proposed research, we will control for confounding by using exogenous changes in employment and earned income, caused by changes in minimum wages and aggregate economic activity (unemployment), to identify the effect of these factors on substance use. PROJECT HEALTH RELEVANCE A significant portion of school-aged youth work and there is evidence that employment is positively related to alcohol, cigarette and marijuana use. The addictive nature of these substances and the potentially serious health consequences of substance use underscore the importance of public health policy targeted at reducing youth substance use. The proposed research will identify the importance of employment and earned income on youth substance use and produce information that can be used to design effective public health policy to address this problem.