An economic analysis of fraternity membership on substance use
Date
2012-04-02
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Abstract
While there are existing studies outside the Philippines on the influence of peers in adolescent substance use1 , none so far has determined the direction and extent to which membership in a particular peer group- that is, fraternity, sorority or gang2 - affects a Filipino youth's probability of engaging in smoking, drinking or drug use. This study will distinctly regard this peer group since anecdotal evidence of increased incidence of substance use at fraternity abounds. To estimate the magnitude of such peer effects, the researchers investigate the following problems: (1) Does an individual's fraternity membership increase the probability of substance use; or (2) Is it substance use that increases the probability of fraternity membership; or (3) Does a third factor exist which influence either of the two occurrences? Using biprobit analyses on 2002 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality III Survey (YAPS) data, the findings reveal that peer effect outweighs the estimated results in (2) and (3). Specifically, peer effect is measured at 31.62% while the other two are only 7.78% and 3.25% respectively.
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Keywords
Fraternity, Sorority, Gang, Smoking, alcohol consumption, Drug-abuse