Identification of the Effect of Depression on Risky Sexual Behavior: Exploiting a Natural Experiment | Zendy

Susan L. Averett | Zendy; Yang Wang | Zendy

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Identification of the Effect of Depression on Risky Sexual Behavior: Exploiting a Natural Experiment

Author(s) -

Susan L. Averett,

Yang Wang

Publication year - 2012

Publication title -

american economic review

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 16.936

H-Index - 297

eISSN - 1944-7981

pISSN - 0002-8282

DOI - 10.1257/aer.102.3.570

Subject(s) - depression (economics) , natural experiment , earnings , condom , identification (biology) , psychology , national longitudinal surveys , demography , demographic economics , sexual behavior , medicine , psychiatry , economics , clinical psychology , finance , sociology , botany , pathology , syphilis , family medicine , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , biology , macroeconomics

Depression is pervasive in the US particularly among women. The costs in terms of direct medical costs and forgone earnings are substantial. This paper investigates an additional cost of depression. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health, we use a unique instrument, the attacks of September 11, which have been linked to depression, to identify the effect of depression on risky sexual behaviors. We find that depressed women are more likely to be sexually active, to engage in oral sex and to have sex without a condom, even after controlling for a rich set of covariates.

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