Previous researchers have noted that the positive correlation between substance use and sexual behavior is stronger for white adolescents than for their black and Hispanic counterparts. Using an instrumental variables approach to control for the possible endogeneity of substance use, and data...

Adolescents who drink or smoke marijuana are more likely to engage in delinquent activities than their peers who do not use substances, but it is not clear whether this association is causal or driven by other difficult-to-measure underlying factors such as an individual's discount rate. Using...

Argys, L.M., Rees, D.I., Averett S.L., & Witoonchart, B. (2006). Birth order and risky adolescent behavior. Economic Inquiry, 44(2), 215-233 demonstrated that a strong link exists between birth order and adolescent risky behavior. Using data on 10th graders from the National Education...

Using information on birth and kindergarten start dates to generate an exogenous measure of the relative age of a student's peer group, we find that, controlling for age, females with older peers are more likely to use substances than females with younger peers. Because there is no reason to...

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we examine the effect of adolescent height on mental health as measured by Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) scores and Rosenberg Self-Esteem (RSE) scores. We find evidence that height is associated with...

It is commonly believed that birth order is an important determinant of success. However, previous studies in this area have failed to provide convincing evidence that birth order is related to test scores, education, or earnings. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth--1979,...

Schools across the country are ending the practice of grouping students based on ability, in part, because of research indicating that tracking hurts low-ability students without helping students of other ability levels. Using a nationally representative survey conducted by the National Center...