Risky Health Behaviors: Evidence for an Emerging Economy

Ana Iregui, Ligia Alba Melo-Becerra () and Maria Ramirez-Giraldo
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Ligia Melo ()

No 13040, Borradores de Economia from Banco de la Republica

Abstract: This paper uses the Colombian National Health Survey to analyze the relationship between education and risky health behaviors, namely smoking, heavy drinking, being obese, and unsafe sexual behavior, by estimating the education gradient using Logit models. We also provide evidence on the effect of education, socio-economic and knowledge variables on these health behaviors by gender and area of residence. Results indicate that there is a negative and significant effect of years of schooling on the probability of smoking, whereas the probability of heavy drinking and unsafe sexual behaviors increases with education, highlighting the importance of social and cultural factors. Knowledge variables not only reduce the probability of smoking, but also the probability of heavy drinking and being obese, indicating that campaigns and research on the negative effects of these behaviors have raised awareness about how harmful they are.

Keywords: Education; risky health behaviors; Colombia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 I12 I20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 43
Date: 2015-06-18
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-lam
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http://www.banrep.gov.co/sites/default/files/publicaciones/archivos/be_891.pdf

Related works:
Working Paper: Risky Health Behaviors: Evidence for an Emerging Economy (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:col:000094:013040

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