Using Behavioural Economics to Explain Substance Abuse Among Indian Adolescents
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47611/jsrhs.v12i4.5819Keywords:
behavioural economics, cognitive biases, substance abuse, India, risky behaviour, teenagers, adolescents, behavioural biasesAbstract
Understanding the behavioural factors that influence adolescent risky behaviour including substance abuse in India is critical for government agencies and organisations working to combat the now upsurging problem caused by substance use amongst adolescents. The objective of this study is to find out the behavioural biases that influence risky behaviour, including substance abuse among adolescents in India. An exploratory factor analysis is conducted on the responses of 682 teenage respondents from a close-ended questionnaire administered electronically in five schools in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The Bandwagon Effect, Hard Easy Effect, Optimism Bias, Sunk Cost Fallacy, Social Norms, Disposition Effect, Illusion of Validity, and Availability Heuristic emerged as the factors most affecting the risky behaviour of adolescents including substance abuse. The findings of this research can be used to develop effective interventions to mitigate the effect of these biases on adolescent substance abuse and other risky behaviours. This study enriches the behavioural economics literature by focusing on teenage substance abuse, filling a critical research gap, and providing valuable insights for public health interventions. It also provides benchmarks for future research and policy-making in behavioural economics.
Downloads
References or Bibliography
Anderson, P., Chisholm, D., and Fuhr, D. C. (2019). “Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of policies and programmes to reduce the harm caused by alcohol”. The Lancet, Vol. 373 No. 9682, pp. 2234-2246.
Ariely, D. (2008). Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions. HarperCollins, New York, NY.
Ariely, D., Loewenstein, G., and Prelec, D. (2003). “Coherent arbitrariness: stable demand curves without stable preferences”. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 118 No. 1, pp. 73-106.
Balasubramanian, G. (2021). “When artificial intelligence meets behavioural economics”. NHRD Network Journal, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 21677. https://doi.org/10.1177/2631454120974810
Bechara, A. (2005). “Decision making, impulse control and loss of willpower to resist drugs: a neurocognitive perspective”. Nature Neuroscience, Vol. 8 No. 11, pp. 1458-1463.
Bickel, W. K., Jarmolowicz, D. P., Mueller, E. T., and Gatchalian, K. M. (2011). “The behavioural economics and neuroeconomics of reinforcer pathologies: implications for aetiology and treatment of addiction”. Current Psychiatry Reports, Vol. 13 No. 5, p. 406.
Bickel, W. K., Jarmolowicz, D. P., Mueller, E. T., Gatchalian, K. M., and McClure, S. M. (2012). “Are executive function and impulsivity antipodes? A conceptual reconstruction with special reference to addiction”. Psychopharmacology, Vol. 221 No. 3, pp. 361-387.
Bradford, W. D. (2010). “The association between individual time preferences and health maintenance habits”. Medical Decision Making, Vol. 30 No. 1, pp. 99-112.
Camerer, C., and Loewenstein, G. (2004). “Behavioral economics: past, present, future”. In C. Camerer, G. Loewenstein, and M. Rabin (Eds.), Advances in behavioral economics (pp. 3-51). Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
Choi, J. J., Laibso, D., Madrian, B. C., and Metrick, A. (2014). “For better or for worse: Default effects and 401 (k) savings behaviour”. In Perspectives on the Economics of Aging (pp. 81-121). University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.
Christakis, N. A., and Fowler, J. H. (2008). “The collective dynamics of smoking in a large social network”. The New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 358 No. 21, pp. 2249-2258.
Crispin, L. M., Nikolaou, D., and Fang, Z. (2017). “Extracurricular participation and risky behaviours during high school”. Applied Economics, Vol. 49 No. 34, pp. 3359-3371.
Davies, H. T., and Slade, I. (2020). Benchmarking and Threshold Standards in Higher Education. Routledge, New York, NY.
DellaVigna, S. (2009). “Psychology and economics: evidence from the field”. Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 47 No. 2, pp.315–372. doi:https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.47.2.315
Dolan, P., Hallsworth, M., Halpern, D., King, D., and Vlaev, I. (2012). “Influencing behaviour: the mindspace way”. Journal of Economic Psychology, Vol. 33 No. 1, pp. 264-277.
Epley, N., and Caruso, E. (2004). “Egocentric ethics”. Social Justice Research, Vol. 17 No. 2, pp. 171-187.
Espada, J. P., Griffin, K. W., Pereira, J. R., Orgilés, M., and García-Fernández, J. M. (2015). “Component analysis of a school-based substance use prevention program in Spain: contributions of problem solving and social skills training content”. Prevention Science, Vol. 16 No. 2, pp. 280-289.
Fergusson, D. M., Boden, J. M., and Horwood, L. J. (2008). “The developmental antecedents of illicit drug use: evidence from a 25-year longitudinal study”. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, Vol. 96 No. 1-2, pp. 165-177.
Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). “Structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error: algebra and statistics”. Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 18, pp. 382-388. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3150980
Galizzi, M. M. (2012). “Label, nudge or tax? A review of health policies for risky behaviours”. Journal of Public Health Research. Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 14-21. doi: 10.4081/jphr.2012.e5.
Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J. et al. (2010). Multivariate Data Analysis (7th ed.). Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Hoffman, B. R., Sussman, S., Unger, J. B., and Valente, T. W. (2006). “Peer influences on adolescent cigarette smoking: A theoretical review of the literature”. Substance Use and Misuse, Vol. 41 No. 1, pp. 103-155.
Janssen, T., Larsen, H., Peeters, M., Pronk, T., Vollebergh, W. A., and Wiers, R. W. (2016). “Interactions between parental alcohol-specific rules and risk personalities in the prediction of adolescent alcohol use”. Alcohol and alcoholism, Vol. 51 No. 4, pp. 434-440.
Jongenelis, M. I., Pettigrew, S., Paul, C., and Lecouteur, K. (2016). “The role of peers in the uptake and maintenance of adolescent smoking: an examination of group identification and peer group norms”. Journal of Substance Use, Vol. 21 No. 4, pp. 350-358
Kahneman, D., and Tversky, A. (1972). “Subjective probability: a judgment of representativeness”. Cognitive psychology, Vol. 3 No. 3, pp. 430-454.
Kahneman, D. and Tversky, A. (1979). “Prospect theory: an analysis of decision under risk”. Econometric, Vol. 47 No. 2, pp.263–292. doi:https://doi.org/10.2307/1914185.
Kahneman, D., J. Knetsch and R. Thaler (1986) “Fairness as a Constraint on Profit Seeking: Entitlements in the Market”, American Economic Review, Vol. 76 No. 4, pp. 728-741.
Kaiser, H. F. (1960). “The application of electronic computers to factor analysis. educational and psychological measurement”, Vol. 20, pp. 141-151. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/001316446002000116
Kandel, D.B. (1996). “The parental and peer contexts of adolescent deviance: an algebra of interpersonal influences”. Journal of Drug Issues, [online] Vol. 26 No. 2, pp.289–315. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/002204269602600202.
Kuntsche, E., Knibbe, R., Gmel, G., and Engels, R. (2017). “Who drinks and why? a review of socio-demographic, personality, and contextual issues behind the drinking motives in young people”. Addictive behaviours, Vol. 32 No. 10, pp. 1844-1857.
Lesner, Rune Vammen and Damm, Anna Piil and Bertelsen, Preben and Pedersen, Mads Uffe, 2022. "The Effect of School-Year Employment on Cognitive Skills, Risky Behavior, and Educational Achievement," Economics of Education Review, Vol. 88(C).
Levin, I. P., Schneider, S. L., and Gaeth, G. J. (2002). “All frames are not created equal: a typology and critical analysis of framing effects”. Organizational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes, Vol. 88 No. 1, pp. 149-188.
Loewenstein, G., Brennan, T. and Volpp, K.G. (2007). “Asymmetric paternalism to improve health behaviours”. JAMA, Vol. 298 No. 20, p.2415. doi:https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.298.20.2415.
McGill, B., O’Hara, B. J., Bauman, A., Grunseit, A. C., Phongsavan, P. (2019). “Are financial incentives for lifestyle behavior change informed or inspired by behavioral economics? A mapping review”. American Journal of Health Promotion, Vol. 33 No. pp. 131-141. doi:10.1177/0890117118770837
Morewedge, C. K., and Giblin, C. E. (2015). “Explanations of the endowment effect: an integrative review”. Trends in cognitive sciences, Vol. 19 No. 6, pp. 339-348.
Mullainathan, S., and Thaler, R. H. (2000). “Behavioral economics”. NBER Working Paper No. 7948.
Newcomb, M.D. and Bentler, P.M. (1988). APA PsycNet. [online] psycnet.apa.org. Available at: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1988-17243-001.
Osilla, K. C., Seelam, R., Parast, L., and D’Amico, E. J. (2019). “Associations between driving under the influence or riding with an impaired driver and future substance use among adolescents”. Traffic injury prevention, Vol. 20 No. 6, pp. 563-569.
Patel, M. S., Small, D. S., Harrison, J. D., et al. (2021). “Effect of behaviourally designed gamification with social incentives on lifestyle modification among adults with uncontrolled diabetes: a randomized clinical trial”. JAMA Network Open, Vol. 4 No. 5, pp. 211-255. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.10255
Perkins, H. W. (1999). “Stress-motivated drinking in collegiate and post collegiate young adulthood: life course and gender patterns”. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, Vol. 60 No. 2, pp. 219-227.
Roese, N. J. (1997). “Counterfactual thinking”. Psychological bulletin, Vol. 121 No. 1, p. 133.
Ross, L., Greene, D., and House, P. (1977). “The “false consensus effect”: an egocentric bias in social perception and attribution processes”. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 13 3, pp. 279-301.
Schelleman-Offermans, K., and Massar, K. (2020). “Explaining socioeconomic inequalities in self-reported health outcomes: The mediating role of perceived life stress, financial self-reliance, psychological capital, and time perspective orientations”. PloS one, Vol. 15 No. 12.
Shepherd, J., Kavanagh, J., Picot, J., Cooper, K., Harden, A., Barnett-Page, E., Jones, J., Clegg, A., Hartwell, D., Frampton, G. K., and Price, A. (2010). “The effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of behavioural interventions for the prevention of sexually transmitted infections in young people aged 13-19: A systematic review and economic evaluation”. Health Technology Assessment, Vol. 14 No. 7, pp. 1-206. doi: 10.3310/hta14070. PMID: 20178696.
Singh, T., Nandan, S., and Chawla, G. (2015). “HR service dimensions of quality of work life factors: IT enabled services perspectives in India”. International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, Vol. 10 No. 4, pp. 460–475. doi:10.1504/IJICBM.2015.069647
Svenson, O. (1981). “Are we all less risky and more skilful than our fellow drivers?” Acta psychological, Vol. 47 No. 2, pp. 143-148.
Thaler, R. H., and Sunstein, C. R. (2008). Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.
Thaler, R.H. (2016). Behavioural economics: past, present, and future. American Economic Review, Vol. 106 No. 7, pp.1577–1600. doi:https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.106.7.1577.
The Decision Lab. (2023). Cognitive Biases. Retrieved from www.thedecisionlab.com: https://thedecisionlab.com/biases
Tversky, A., and Kahneman, D. (1981). “The framing of decisions and the psychology of choice”. Science, Vol. 211 No. 4481, pp. 453-458.
UNODC: World Drug Report 2020. (n.d.). World Drug Report 2020. [online] Available at: https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/en/index2020.html.
Wang, W., Hu, L., Mu, L., Chen, D., Song, L., Wang, X., and Chang, C. (2019). “Availability and need for addiction treatment among residents of publicly funded single-room occupancy housing In San Francisco, California”. Drug and alcohol dependence, Vol. 201, pp.18-23.
Wong, C. A., Hakimi, S., Santanam, T. S., Madanay, F., Fridman, I., Ford, C., ... and Ubel, P. A. (2021). “Applying behavioural economics to improve adolescent and young adult health: a developmentally-sensitive approach”. Journal of Adolescent Health, Vol. 69 No. 1, pp. 17-25.
National Drug Department Treatment Centre (2021). www.samhsa.gov. [online] Available at: https://www.samhsa.gov/data/release/2021-national-survey-drug-use-and-health-nsduh-releases#annual-national-report.
Yule, J. A., and Tinson, J. (2017). “Youth and the sociability of “Vape.” Journal of Consumer Behaviour, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 3-14.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Copyright (c) 2023 Ayaan Bhatt; Avani Desai
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Copyright holder(s) granted JSR a perpetual, non-exclusive license to distriute & display this article.
