Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/69349 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2013
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 7171
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Self-esteem has been conceptualized as a social vaccine. The belief is that high self-esteem can inoculate young people, against vulnerability to a wide range of social illnesses. This study gives a contribution in the understanding of the causal relation between self-esteem and sexual behaviour among American adolescents. I analyzes the impact of different levels of early self-esteem on a wide set of risky sexual behaviours. I use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and I take into account the endogeneity of self-esteem using instrumental variables methods and measuring self-esteem before sexual initiation. I find that self-esteem over a certain threshold' is a protective resource for girls, delaying the onset of sexual activity, reducing the number of occasional sexual partners and increasing the likelihood of having protected sexual encounters.
Subjects: 
self-esteem
adolescent's sexual behaviour
Add Health
instrumental variable model
JEL: 
I12
J13
O51
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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