Cawley, John
Markowitz, Sara
Tauras, John
Body Weight, Cigarette Prices, Youth Access Laws and Adolescent Smoking Initiation
Presented: Philadelphia, PA, Allied Social Science Association Meeting, January 2005.
Also: http://www.aeaweb.org/annual_mtg_papers/2005/0107_0800_0101.pdf
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Society of Government Economists (SGE)
Keyword(s): Body Mass Index (BMI); Cigarette Use (see Smoking); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Smoking (see Cigarette Use); State-Level Data/Policy; Variables, Instrumental; Weight;

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This paper examines the role of body weight in smoking initiation by aolescents. We estimate discrete-time hazard models of the decision to initiate smoking using data from the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979 Cohort. We control for cigarette prices, tobacco control policies and socioeconomic factors. To avoid problems stemming from the endogeneity of body weight, we also estimate models using the method of instrumental variables.

We find clear gender differences. Lighter girls are less likely to initiate smoking, while current weight is uncorrelated with initiation among boys. Among girls, smoking initiation is insensitive to cigarette prices, but among boys smoking initiation is negatively correlated with cigarette prices. These gender-specific differences may help explain the mixed evidence of the impact of price on smoking initiation found in previous literature.

Cawley, John
Markowitz, Sara
Tauras, John
Lighting Up and Slimming Down: The Effects of Body Weight and Cigarette Prices on Adolescent Smoking Initiation
NBER Working Paper No. 9561, National Bureau of Economic Research, March 2003.
Also: http://papers.nber.org/papers/w9561
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Keyword(s): Adolescent Behavior; Cigarette Use (see Smoking); Gender Differences; Weight;

This paper examines the influence of body weight, body image, and cigarette prices in determining adolescent sgmoking initiation. Adolescents who desire to lose weight may initiate smoking as a method of appetite control. Such behavior may undermine the goals of tobacco control policies that seek to prevent smoking initiation. Using a nationally representative panel of adolescents, we show that smoking initiation is more likely among females who are overweight, who report trying to lose weight, or who describe themselves as overweight. In contrast, neither objective nor subjective measures of weight predict smoking initiation by males. Higher cigarette prices decrease the probability of smoking initiation among males but have no impact on female smoking initiation. These gender-specific differences may help explain the mixed and inconclusive evidence of the impact of price on smoking initiation found in previous literature.

Cawley, John
Markowitz, Sara
Tauras, John
Obesity, Cigarette Prices, Youth Access Laws and Adolescent Smoking Initiation
Eastern Economic Journal 32,1 (Winter 2006): 149-170.
Also: http://econpapers.repec.org/article/eejeeconj/v_3a32_3ay_3a2006_3ai_3a1_3ap_3a149-170.htm
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillian Journals
Keyword(s): Adolescent Behavior; Body Mass Index (BMI); Cigarette Use (see Smoking); Gender Differences; Modeling, Hazard; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Smoking (see Cigarette Use); Socioeconomic Factors; State-Level Data/Policy; Variables, Instrumental; Weight;

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This paper examines the role of body weight in smoking initiation by adolescents. We estimate discrete-time hazard models of the decision to initiate smoking using data from the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979 Cohort. We control for cigarette prices, tobacco control policies and socioeconomic factors. To avoid problems stemming from the endogeneity of body weight, we also estimate models using the method of instrumental variables. We find clear gender differences. Lighter girls are less likely to initiate smoking, while current weight is uncorrelated with initiation among boys. Among girls, smoking initiation is insensitive to cigarette prices, but among boys smoking initiation is negatively correlated with cigarette prices. These gender-specific differences may help explain the mixed evidence of the impact of price on smoking initiation found in previous literature.