Harris Jeffrey E, González López-Valcárcel Beatriz
Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
J Health Econ. 2008 Mar;27(2):249-64. doi: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2007.07.005. Epub 2007 Dec 4.
We extend the recent literature on peer effects to test the possible role of asymmetric social influences in the determination of youth smoking. We analyzed cigarette smoking among people aged 15-24 in approximately 90,000 households in the 1992-1999 U.S. Current Population Surveys. The presence of additional smoking sibling in a household, we estimated, raised a young person's probability of smoking by 7.6%, while each non-smoking sibling lowered the probability by an estimated 3.5%. Moreover, the overall deterrent effect of an increase in cigarette price on the probability of smoking was approximately 60% greater than the estimated effect when peer influences were held constant. The concept of asymmetric social influence may have applications in other fields, including labor economics, education, crime prevention, and group dynamics.
我们拓展了近期关于同伴效应的文献，以检验不对称社会影响在青少年吸烟行为决定过程中可能发挥的作用。我们分析了1992 - 1999年美国当前人口调查中约90,000户家庭里15至24岁人群的吸烟情况。据我们估计，家庭中多一个吸烟的兄弟姐妹会使年轻人吸烟的概率提高7.6%，而每一个不吸烟的兄弟姐妹会使这一概率降低约3.5%。此外，香烟价格上涨对吸烟概率的总体抑制作用，在同伴影响保持不变时，比估计的作用大约大60%。不对称社会影响这一概念可能在其他领域有应用，包括劳动经济学、教育、预防犯罪和群体动态学。
