Magazines and Safe Sex: Are Better Informed Youth More Likely to Use Contraceptives and Condoms?
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Date
2017-05
Authors
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Ohio State University
Abstract
When individuals choose to act, a critical determinant of their choice is the information they possess. I explore the relationship between information about sexually transmitted diseases and safe sex practices in adolescence and early adulthood. I examine whether individuals are more or less likely to use contraceptives when they read information about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in popular magazines. To characterize information about STDs, I track articles published in popular magazines from 1970 to 2014. To measure potential exposure to information, I use data on magazine reading habits of youth and adults to estimate models of whether and how intensively individuals read particular magazines. I use the estimated coefficients and articles to predict the information flow and stock of individuals who participated in the 1997 National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth (NLSY97). I estimate whether individuals are more likely to use contraceptives when they see more information about STDs.
Description
Gledhill Prize in Applied Economics
Keywords
health, economics, information, behavior, sex, magazines