What is the Effect of Adolescent Drug Use on an Individual’s Likelihood of Future Employment?
Abstract
According to the National Business Group on Health, of the millions who struggle with substance abuse problems, sixty percent are employed full time. Using data collected from the National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent to Adult Health and employment rates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, I will estimate the effect of marijuana use as a teenager on an individual’s likelihood of employment once they become an adult using a logit model. This will produce the most accurate results due to my binary dependent variable. Previous work on the relationship between marijuana and employment has produced mixed results, with some finding a positive effect, some a negative, and others finding a negligible relationship. Initially, I hypothesized that I would find a negative effect, meaning that marijuana use decreases an individual’s likelihood of participating in the labor force once they are old enough. However, I have since concluded that this relationship is statistically insignificant.
What is the Effect of Adolescent Drug Use on an Individual’s Likelihood of Future Employment?
According to the National Business Group on Health, of the millions who struggle with substance abuse problems, sixty percent are employed full time. Using data collected from the National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent to Adult Health and employment rates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, I will estimate the effect of marijuana use as a teenager on an individual’s likelihood of employment once they become an adult using a logit model. This will produce the most accurate results due to my binary dependent variable. Previous work on the relationship between marijuana and employment has produced mixed results, with some finding a positive effect, some a negative, and others finding a negligible relationship. Initially, I hypothesized that I would find a negative effect, meaning that marijuana use decreases an individual’s likelihood of participating in the labor force once they are old enough. However, I have since concluded that this relationship is statistically insignificant.