Department of Economics, University of Toledo, 2801 W Bancroft Street, University Hall 4110H MS 922, Toledo, OH 43606-3390, USA.
J Adolesc. 2011 Feb;34(1):183-90. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2009.12.008. Epub 2010 Jan 4.
In this paper we seek to empirically quantify the role of peer social networks in influencing sexual behavior among adolescents. Using data of a nationally representative sample of adolescents we utilize a multivariate structural model with school-level fixed effects to account for the problems of contextual effects, correlated effects and peer selections to purge the potential biases from the estimates of peer influence. Our peer group measures are drawn not only from the nomination of close friends, but also from classmates. Controlling for parent level characteristics, and other demographic parameters, we find that a 10% increase in the proportion of close friends who initiates sex increases the probability that an individual chooses to initiate sex by 5% and a 10% increase in number of sexual partners among close friends increases an individual's sexual partner by 5%. The influence of classmates however, diminishes in magnitude after accounting for unobserved environmental confounders.
本文旨在通过实证研究量化同伴社交网络对青少年性行为的影响。我们利用具有学校层面固定效应的多元结构模型，利用全国代表性青少年样本数据，以解决背景效应、相关效应和同伴选择的问题，从而消除同伴影响估计中的潜在偏差。我们的同伴群体指标不仅来自于亲密朋友的提名，还来自于同学。在控制了家长层面的特征和其他人口统计学参数后，我们发现，亲密朋友中开始发生性行为的比例每增加 10%，个体选择开始发生性行为的概率就会增加 5%，而亲密朋友中的性伴侣数量每增加 10%，个体的性伴侣数量就会增加 5%。然而，在考虑到未被观察到的环境混杂因素后，同学的影响会减弱。
