Objective: To examine the association between frequency of family dinners (FFD) and selected problem behaviors for adolescents after adjusting for family connectedness, parental awareness, other family activities, and other potentially confounding factors. Methods: Data are drawn from the...

Prenatal exposure to smoking and alcohol-use is found to be correlated with various adverse consequences for children, including behavior problems. However, it is not clear whether this relationship is an artifact of underlying confounding factors that impact both the mother’s decision to...

It has long been posited by scientists that we need to have a better understanding in the role that larger contextual factors -- like neighborhood quality and the built environment -- may have on the nation's obesity crisis. This paper explores whether maternal perceptions of neighborhood...

There is evidence in the economics literature that restrictions on Medicaid funding for abortion reduces the demand for abortion. The unresolved question is whether such restrictions also increase safe sex (that is, pregnancy avoidance) behavior among women. This study explores that issue using...

Extant research finds inverse relationships between beer taxes and physical child abuse. This study extends the direction of research by investigating the relationship between beer taxes, other alcohol policies and child homicide deaths. The homicide death count for children 0-9 years old at the...

We examine how undesirable juvenile behavior is related to the structure and quality of home life. In homes with both own-parents or one parent and another adult partner, we distinguish among unhappy, moderately happy, and very happy relationships for the adults. Single-parents are treated as...

Economists have investigated the effects of increased alcohol taxes on various alcohol-related phenomena like traffic fatalities, but to my knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the effects of beer taxes on teen pregnancy outcomes, namely abortion and birth rates. The study employs...

This paper tests the hypothesis that state-level restrictions on abortion access are linked to increases in child fatal-injury rates. The rationale is that such restrictions may disproportionately increase births of “unwanted” children as well as births to young, single, and low...

The purpose of this study is to explore whether, in the U.S., there are associations between state-level variations in mortality among young children and state abortion restriction policies – such as parental-consent requirements, parental-notification requirements, mandatory delay laws, and...