Two essays on youth health: Youth smoking and school outcomes of youths with disabilities

This study looks at two types of youth health problems: risky health behaviors and mental disabilities. The first essay is on youth smoking, as an example of a risky health behavior. The goal of this research is to learn more about how to prevent unhealthy choices made by youth. The second essay discusses the impact of mental disabilities related to human capital formation. Because disabilities are external health problems imposed on some youths, this research sheds light on treatment and responses to a health problem, not prevention.;For the first essay, this study estimates the effects of cigarette prices on youth smoking behavior. The data are from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, collected in 1995 and 1996. Through cross-section analysis, this study finds negative and significant price effects similar to previous cross-sectional studies. Based on hazard analysis with state fixed effects models, however, the same data yield positive and non-significant price effects. This suggests that previous cross-sectional studies may yield biased estimates on effects of cigarette prices. The findings from this study suggest that higher cigarette prices may not prevent youths from starting smoking.;The second essay examines the influences of youth disabilities on youths' desires and expectations, youths' perceptions of parental expectations, actual parental expectations, and parental time spent on children. The data are from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, collected in 1995. This study finds that youth mental disabilities are associated with lower youth and parental expectations for further education. Based on other research, these lower expectations may translate into the poor school outcomes of youths with disabilities. This suggests that one general approach to increase educational attainments of youths with mental disabilities might be to promote higher educational expectations among the students and their parents.;This study concludes that “prevention and help” are general paradigms of public policy for youth health problems. Effective prevention for risky health behaviors are policies that help youths not to choose risky health behaviors. Public policies for youths with disabilities should encourage appropriate investment in education.