Abstract
This paper uses individual-level data from both the 2003–2011 American Time Use Survey and Youth Risk Behavior Survey along with state-level unemployment rates to examine the effects of a weakening economy during the Great Recession on U.S. teenagers’ activities. Black male teenagers had less sex and spent more time with their parents. Hispanic male teenagers spent less time playing sports and more time watching time TV, and were more likely to be obese. Female teenagers, on the other hand, spent less time working, but made greater investments in their education. However, there were signs that female teenagers were stressed by the weak economic conditions, because they slept less and were more likely to smoke daily. Black females also consumed more alcohol.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Height and weight were not reported before 1999. Therefore, it is possible to examine the effects of changes in economic conditions on the probability of being overweight or obese only between 1999 and 2011.
Height and weight were self-reported by students. Overweight is defined as greater than or equal to 85 % on the body-mass-index (BMI) percentile chart based upon age and gender. Obese is defined as greater than or equal to 95 % on the BMI percentile chart based upon age and gender.
For the labor force questions, the reference period in the ATUS is the 7 days prior to the interview with interviews occurring throughout the month while the reference period in the CPS is the week including the 12th of the month. Thus, the recall period is shorter in the ATUS. This difference could impact the analyses in this paper as many teenagers work sporadically at jobs such as babysitting and lawn mowing. The CPS reference week was chosen to avoid holidays. Frazis and Stewart (2004) found that average weekly hours were greater during CPS reference weeks than non-CPS reference weeks. Thus, the reference week is not representative of the entire month.
For consistency across years, when examining parental supervision, I did not include any time when the teen was doing paid work.
Youths interviewed from Memorial Day through Labor Day are excluded from the sample, because many teenagers are on summer vacation and the YRBS covered risky behaviors occurring during the school year.
Online appendix Table A2 explains the sample selection criteria.
However, a three-month rate produced similar estimates.
The wage and tax were adjusted for inflation using the CPI-U/100 (base year 1982–84).
The year effects absorb the effects of the national business cycle.
Physical activity could change because of changes in recreational sports or work-related exertion over the business cycle. For example, Colman and Dave (2011) found that among low-educated adult males, total physical exertion declined as work-related exertion due to job-loss decreased more than recreational sports, TV-watching, sleeping, childcare, and housework increased during the Great Recession.
When examining the probability of being employed or working on the diary day, I estimate linear probability models.
The ATUS collects only secondary childcare time for children under the age of 13. I also examined an alternative measure as the sum of both parents’ time with children (as suggested in Folbre et al. 2005), with similar results.
Estimates for all the covariates in this specification are in online Appendix Table A7.
Ninety-three percent of the sample had a proxy response in the CPS.
I also examined housework; but teens do little housework, and all the effects were insignificant.
References
Aguiar, M., Hurst, E., & Karabarbounis, L. (2013). Time use during the great recession. American Economic Review, 103(5), 1664–1696.
Aizer, A. (2004). Home alone: Supervision after school and child behavior. Journal of Public Economics, 88, 1835–1848.
Ananat, E., Gassman-Pines, A., Francis, D., & Gibson-Davis, C. (2011). Children left behind: The effects of statewide job loss on student achievement. NBER Working Paper No. 17104.
Arkes, J. (2007). Does the economy affect teenage drug use? Health Economics, 16, 19–36.
Arkes, J. (2009). How the economy affects teenage weight. Social Science and Medicine, 68, 1943–1947.
Arkes, J. (2012). How does youth cigarette use respond to weak economic periods? Implications for the current economic crisis. Substance Use and Misuse, 47, 375–382.
Arkes, J., & Klerman, J. (2009). Understanding the link between the economy and teenage sexual behavior and fertility outcomes. Journal of Population Economics, 22, 517–536.
Bell, D., & Blanchflower, D. (2011). Young people and the great recession. Oxford Review Economic Policy, 27(2), 241–267.
Bianchi, S., Robinson, J., & Milkie, M. (2006). Changing rhythms of American family life. New York: Russell Sage.
Cheng, K., & Kenkel, D. (2010). U.S. cigarette demand: 1944-2004. The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 10(1).
Colman, G., & Dave, D. (2011). Exercise, physical activity, and exertion over the business cycle. Social Science and Medicine, 93, 11–20.
Folbre, N., Finnoff, Y., & Fuligni, A. (2005). By what measure? Family time devoted to children in the United States. Demography, 42(2), 373–390.
Frazis H., & Stewart, J. (2004). What can time-use data tell us about hours of work? Monthly Labor Review, December, 3–9.
Garcia, M. (2009). At some schools, budget cuts put the kibosh on sports. USA Today, 2 September. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/preps/2009-09-02-budget_sports_cuts_N.htm
Kalenkoski, C., & Pabilonia, S. W. (2012). Time to work or time to play: The effect of student employment on homework, sleep, and screen time. Labour Economics, 19, 211–221.
Kofman, Y., & Bianchi, S. (2012). Time use of youths by immigrant and native-born parents: ATUS results. Monthly Labor Review, 135(7), 3–24.
Levine, P. (2001). The sexual activity and birth-control use of American teenagers. In J. Gruber (Ed.), Risky behavior among youths: An economic analysis (pp. 167–217). Chicago: University of Chicago.
Light, A. (1999). High school employment, high school curriculum, and post-school wages. Economics of Education Review, 18(3), 291–309.
Light, A. (2001). In-school work experience and the returns to schooling. Journal of Labor Economics, 19(1), 65–93.
Lundberg, S., Pabilonia, S.W., & Ward-Batts, J. (2008). Time allocation of parents and investments in sons and daughters. Mimeo.
Martin, E. A., Hess, J., & Siegel, P. M. (1995). Some effects of gender on the meaning of `work’: An empirical examination. Census Statistical Research Division Report Series, https://www.census.gov/srd/papers/pdf/sm9509.pdf. Accessed 22 April 2015.
Michael, R., & Tuma, N. (1984). Youth employment: Does life begin at 16? Journal of Labor Economics, 2(4), 464–476.
Morrill, M. S., & Pabilonia, S. W. (2015). What effects do macroeconomic conditions have on the time couples with children spend together? Review of Economics of the Household,. doi:10.1007/s11150-015-9285-x.
Neumark, D., & Joyce, M. (2001). Evaluating school-to-work programs using the new NLSY. The Journal of Human Resources, 36(4), 666–702.
Orzechowski, W., & Walker, R. (2012). The tax burden on tobacco: Historical compilation, volume 46, 2011. Arlington, VA: authors.
Pabilonia, S. W. (2001). Evidence on youth employment, earnings, and parental transfers in the national longitudinal survey of youth 1997. Journal of Human Resources, 36(4), 795–822.
Porterfield, S., & Winkler, A. (2007). Teen time use and parental education: Evidence from the CPS, MTF, and ATUS. Monthly Labor Review, 130(5), 37–56.
Ruhm, C. (1995). The extent and consequences of high school employment. Journal of Labor Research, 16(3), 293–304.
Ruhm, C. (1997). Is high school employment consumption or investment? Journal of Labor Economics, 15(4), 735–776.
Ruhm, C. (2000). Are recessions good for your health? Quarterly Journal of Economics, 115, 617–650.
Smith, C. (2012). The impact of low-skilled immigration on the youth labor market. Journal of Labor Economics, 30(1), 55–89.
Song, Y. (2012). Minimum wages and teen time use. Mimeo.
Stephenson, S. (1981). In-school labour force status and post-school wage rates of young men. Applied Economics, 13(3), 279–302.
Sum, A., Khatiwada, I., McLaughlin, J., & Palma, S. (2008). The collapse of the national teen job market and the case for an immediate summer and year round youth jobs creation program. Northeastern University, Center for Labor Market Studies.
U.S. Department of Labor. (2012). The African-American labor force in the recovery. http://www.dol.gov/_sec/media/reports/BlackLaborForce/BlackLaborForce.pdf. Accessed 2 Nov 2012.
U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2015). Charting the labor market: Data from the Current Population Survey (CPS). http://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cps_charts.pdf. Accessed 25 April 2015.
Wight, V., Price, J., Bianchi, S., & Hunt, B. (2009). The time use of teenagers. Social Science Research, 38(4), 792–809.
Acknowledgments
All views expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The author would like to thank Charlene Kalenkoski, Melinda Sandler Morrill, Younghwan Song, Jay Stewart and participants at the 2011 International Perspectives on Time Use Conference at the University of Maryland and 2014 Society of Labor Economists’ Annual Meeting for useful suggestions.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pabilonia, S.W. Teenagers’ risky health behaviors and time use during the great recession. Rev Econ Household 15, 945–964 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11150-015-9297-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11150-015-9297-6