Working Papers, Swedish National Road & Transport Research Institute (VTI)
No 2007:5:
Gender, risk perceptions, and smoking behavior
Petter Lundborg ()
and Henrik Andersson ()
Abstract: Among younger cohorts, the smoking rate of females has
surpassed that of males in many western countries. This is a departure from
the common observation that males engage more frequently in risky
behaviors. The underlying reasons for gender differences in smoking
behavior, and thus for the recent trends, are not well understood. Using a
sample of 8,592 Swedish adolescents aged 15-18, this paper contributes to
the literature by exploring gender differences in smoking risk perceptions
and in the responses to the latter. The results show significant gender
differences in the perception of smoking mortality risk and in the
perception of the addictiveness of smoking. Girls perceive the mortality
risk of smoking as significantly greater than boys do, but they also
perceive the addictiveness of cigarettes as less. These results persist
after controlling for a wide range of background characteristics, including
smoking risk information sources. Moreover, the findings suggest that while
smoking information from sources such as teachers, pals, and own search,
affect smoking mortality perceptions in a significant and positive manner
among boys, no such effects are obtained among girls. Finally, no evidence
is found for gender differences in the effect of perceived risks of smoking
on the probability of being a smoker.
Keywords: Gender; smoking; risk perceptions; information; (follow links to similar papers)
JEL-Codes: D81; I10; J13; (follow links to similar papers)
33 pages, August 22, 2007
Download Statistics
- This paper is published as:
-
Lundborg, Petter and Henrik Andersson, (2008), 'Gender, risk perceptions, and smoking behavior', Journal of Health Economics, Vol. 27, No. 5, pages 1299-1311
Questions (including download problems) about the papers in this series should be directed to Jan-Eric Swärdh ()
Report other problems with accessing this service to Sune Karlsson ()
or Helena Lundin ().
Programing by
Design by Joachim Ekebom
