Paying adolescents for health screenings works

With regard to their future health, adolescents are at a critical stage. Previous evaluations have shown that health screenings, counselling, and other intervention programmes during this phase of life are important, particularly for those with a low socio-economic background. Unfortunately, adolescents tend to have little interest in preventive programmes. We designed a field experiment to evaluate the effectiveness of financial incentives to promote participation in health screenings. Our study comprises more than 10;000 participants, observed via high-quality administrative data from Austria. The treatment group received a e40 shopping voucher if they participated in an age-specific health screening. On average, the financial incentive increased the likelihood of participation by 280 %. Treatment effects are comparably larger for children in families with a higher socio-economic status, and of parents with a revealed preference for secondary health prevention.