Depression and Risky Health Behaviors

Alex Xingbang Weng

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2025, vol. 233, issue C

Abstract: Risky health behaviors are a major source of preventable deaths in the world. I estimate the effect of depression on risky health behaviors at different stages of the life course. To tackle unobservable confounders and reverse causality, I exploit variations in friend and family suicide attempts and a genetic score for depression as instrumental variables. I find that one standard deviation increase in depression leads to a 4% higher probability of having unprotected sex and a 16% higher probability of smoking cigarettes. Depression could promote individuals’ risky health behaviors through altering their risk preferences, noncognitive skills, and perceived social support.

Keywords: Depression; Risky health behaviors; Genetics; Instrumental variables (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:233:y:2025:i:c:s0167268125001039

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2025.106983

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