Economics is sometimes ridiculed as a science that uses complex math to argue the obvious. That complaint may be valid toward the following paper, but it’s still interesting (to me at least): in “Binge Drinking & Sex in High School” (abstract here; PDF here), Jeffrey S. DeSimone argues that “binge drinking significantly increases participation in sex, promiscuity, and the failure to use birth control, albeit by amounts considerably smaller than implied by merely conditioning on exogenous factors.” In a related essay about an earlier paper on binge drinking and risky sex among college students, DeSimone writes:
“I conclude that binge drinking does not make students become sexually active when they would not otherwise be, but does leads to some promiscuous sex that would not otherwise take place. This implies STD infection and unwanted pregnancy are potential external costs of binge drinking that could justify restrictive alcohol policies on college campuses.”
Meanwhile, Susan Averett, Hope Corman, and Nancy Reichman have a new paper (abstract here; PDF here) titled “Effects of Overweight on Risky Sexual Behavior of Adolescent Girls.” It finds that “overweight or obese teenage girls are more likely than their recommended-weight peers to engage in certain types of risky sexual behavior but not others.”
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If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, don’t make a pretty woman your wife. So, from a personal point of view, get an ugly girl to marry you.
#8 and #9,
Awesome and true observations no matter how many responses to the negative and bashing you get posted.
One item is that obesity on the rise implies that more students would be fat now versus 20 – 40 years ago. Families that import much on their children about looks and weight tend to be controlling and social climbing snits. The more earthy, food loving and less body conscious families tend to be a lot more fun.
And #2 [if you are not a troll] just because you have a high IQ doesn’t mean you will succeed because you have to know and work the system. In your case the system is writing papers and taking tests. And you have to be able to talk to other people (such as cheerleaders) in order to get to sleep with them. That too is knowing how to work the system what to say to who and when… Good luck and don’t get down on yourself and also don’t spend too much time at the computer looking at stuff you shouldn’t be- get out and talk to real women.
It occurs to me that more restrictive alcohol policies on college campuses will lead to more drinking off campus and more drunk driving and more deaths and injuries. From a public safety point of view, people should be encouraged to do their drinking at home or close to home.
Students stumbling around campus drunk are much less dangerous than students driving drunk.
KAL,
It is a myth that restrictive policies lead to more binge drinking. I don’t have the abstracts handy, but there are at least two very credible studies that I’m aware of that show Europe and the UK, with their lower drinking age and much less restrictive policies, are having the same binge-drinking problems that we are–except worse. One study referred to the UK’s problem as its #1 health care crisis. It is to the point that they are considering raising the drinking age to 21.
People have abused substances for millennia. The problem is much better now than it was or has been at any point in the past.
Sylvia,
The issue isn’t availability. Alcohol is readily available to teenagers and many of them binge drink.
The way to correct this behavior is to create incentives not to drink. Additional disincentives and restrictions aren’t going to work.
Instead of creating a culture where binge drinking is encouraged, we need to create a culture where drunkenness is poorly regarded. How often do you hear tales of drunk night outs from the young single folks in your office. That’s their goal. They see nothing negative about it. That view trickles down to younger age groups. That’s a sweeping cultural change. Very few people change behavior because of a law. Instead, they just care less for laws.
PS: Nice health care system UK! If teenage binge drinking is a bigger problem than cancer, they’ve really got things figured out over there.
I crack up everytime someone writes a statement along the lines of “Europe and the UK” (i.e. Sylvia) as if the UK was not a firm and fast part of Europe and a revenue slurping member of the European Union.
I know this isn’t teen drinking (well sorta), But Military drinking patterns might offer a useful look into incentives for/against drinking. You have so many independent “experiments” with drinking going on world wide from unit to unit and base to base.
For instance Curfew (no one allowed in bars) in Korea was 1am on weekends for 8 years, then 3am for about 1.5 years, and now there is none. Initial reporting has shown less ARIs (alcohol related instances) now then with curfew.
Most people attribute this to people pacing there drinking so they can stay out all night, and not slamming 5-10 shots from midnight to 1am (which your average airman is apt to do).
Further in Korea the military drinking age is 21, in Italy (another place that sometimes imposes curfew) has a drinking age of, your in the military. And even more than that any 0-6 or above can set drinking ages/standards/hours however he sees fit.
From my observations(anecdotal), more cabs/public transportation, lack of privately owned vehicles, close distance of home to drinking area, all contribute to lower DUI rates (Italy has no cab service for base, and has a notoriously high DUI rate. Korea has all of the above factors and has next to none)
Drinking age matters, the higher you set it the less people drink, and people who tend to break the law generally imbibe more responsibly for fear of being caught. (you theoretically have committed a felony if u underage drink in the military, so it might be the severity too)
Bar time is harmful, it leads to last second binges, many drunks on the road at once, and might even be a cause fights as people all plan to arrive and leave at the same time (see Korea-USA Military assault rates fall after curfew rule retracted).
Bar time is however less costly for a lot of parties, Police know when to set schedules and bars don’t waste money on the increased overhead required to be open late (in most places they have hours reflecting the type of bar they are).
I hope this isn’t to scattered, if any one wants resources on different military drinking laws world wide, feel free to ask Google or me.