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Cognitive ability and teen smoking

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Abstract

We use data on 11–15-year-old boys in the West Bank to study the empirical link between cognitive ability and health behavior, specifically (teen) smoking. Adjusting for both age in months and grade level allows us to effectively shut down any simultaneous effect of maturation and schooling on cognitive ability and smoking. We find that those at the lower end of the cognitive ability distribution are more than twice as likely to smoke than those at the upper end (approximately 25 versus 10%) also after adjusting for parental background and peer composition in a generalized propensity score approach. Further, we find that the cognitive ability-smoking gradient is fairly flat at the lower end of the cognitive ability distribution and steep at the upper end.

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Notes

  1. See https://staging.tobaccocontrollaws.org/legislation/country/palestine/summary (accessed 2019-09-03) for English translations.

  2. http://www.maannews.net/Content.aspx?id=989109 (accessed 2019-09-03).

  3. We chose the number of knots by visual inspection of the estimated relationship. With larger numbers of knots, we found implausibly increasing segments in the dose–response function, which we considered to be the result of over-fitting However, in principle, one could also choose the number of knots by cross-validation.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Schumpeter School of Business and Economics, University of Wuppertal, Rainer-Gruenter-Str. 21 (FN), 42119, Wuppertal, Germany

    Hendrik Jürges

  2. Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsschutz und Arbeitsmedizin, Postfach 17 02 02, 44061, Dortmund, Germany

    Sophie-Charlotte Meyer

Authors
  1. Hendrik Jürges
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  2. Sophie-Charlotte Meyer
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hendrik Jürges.

Additional information

The analysis presented in this paper is part of the project “Determinants of Cognitive Development in Deprived Environments: Evidence from the West Bank” funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) under Grant number JU 2769/2. We are grateful to the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education, test administrators, and the students who participated in our study for their time and effort. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.

Appendices

Appendix 1: Balancing test for schools

See Fig. 4.

Fig. 4
figure 4

Checking the balancing property of the generalized propensity score in the full sample: t statistics for equality of school proportions across three cognitive ability groups, (min, 92], (92, 108], and (108, max], before and after covariate adjustment

Full size image

Appendix 2: Construction of indices

Living standards index

The living standards index is constructed as the sum of affirmative answers to the following question: “Does your household have ...(code all that apply):

  1. 1.

    Television.

  2. 2.

    Telephone (mobile or landline).

  3. 3.

    Refrigerator.

  4. 4.

    Dishwasher.

  5. 5.

    Computer.

  6. 6.

    DVD player.

  7. 7.

    Central heating.

  8. 8.

    Air condition.

  9. 9.

    Private car, van, or truck.

Joint family activity index

The joint family activity index is constructed as the mean of the answers to the following question: “Below is a list of some things that families do together. How often do you and your family do these things together?” (Answer categories: every day = 5, most days = 4, about once a week = 3, less than once a week = 2, never = 1).

  1. 1.

    Watch TV or video together.

  2. 2.

    Play indoor games together.

  3. 3.

    Eat meals together.

  4. 4.

    Go for a walk together.

  5. 5.

    Go places together.

  6. 6.

    Visit friends or relatives together.

  7. 7.

    Play sports together.

  8. 8.

    Sit and talk about things together.

General health index

The general health index is constructed as the mean of the answers to the following question: “In the previous 6 months: how often have you had the following?” (Answer categories: about every day = 1, more than once a week = 2, about every week = 3, about every month = 4, rarely or never = 5).

  1. 1.

    Headache.

  2. 2.

    Stomach ache.

  3. 3.

    Back ache.

  4. 4.

    Feeling low (upset or depressed).

  5. 5.

    Irritability or bad temper.

  6. 6.

    Feeling nervous.

  7. 7.

    Difficulties in getting to sleep.

  8. 8.

    Feeling dizzy.

Maltreatment index

The maltreatment index is constructed as the sum of the answers to the following question: “While you were growing up during your childhood years, how true were each of the following statements?” (Answer categories: very often true = 2, true = 1, never true = 0, note that some items are inverted)

  1. 1.

    You knew there was someone to take care of you and protect you? (–)

  2. 2.

    People in your family called you things like “lazy” or “ugly”?

  3. 3.

    Your parents were too drunk or high to take care of the family?

  4. 4.

    There was someone in your family who helped you feel important or special? (–)

  5. 5.

    You had to wear dirty clothes?

  6. 6.

    You felt loved? (–)

  7. 7.

    You thought your parents wished you had never been born?

  8. 8.

    People in your family looked out for each other? (–)

  9. 9.

    You felt that someone in your family hated you?

  10. 10.

    People in your family said hurtful or insulting things to you?

  11. 11.

    You believe that you were emotionally abused?

  12. 12.

    You believe that you were sexually abused?

  13. 13.

    There was someone to take you to the doctor if you needed it? (–)

  14. 14.

    Your family was a source of strength and support? (–)

Physical violence index

The physical violence index was constructed as the sum of the answers to the following question: “Sometimes parents or other adults hurt children. While you were growing up, that is, your childhood years, how often did a parent, or adult living in your home?” (Answer categories: very often true = 2, true = 1, never true = 0, note that some items are inverted)

  1. 1.

    Swear at you, insult you, or put you down?

  2. 2.

    Threaten to hit you or throw something at you, but didn’t?t do it?

  3. 3.

    Actually push, grab, shove, slap you, or throw something at you?

  4. 4.

    Hit you so hard that you had marks or were injured?

  5. 5.

    Act in a way that made you afraid that you might be physically hurt?

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Jürges, H., Meyer, SC. Cognitive ability and teen smoking. Eur J Health Econ 21, 287–296 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10198-019-01127-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10198-019-01127-1

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