Ashes to ashes, time to time - parental time discounting and its role in the intergenerational transmission of smoking

  • Intergenerational correlations of risky health behaviors such as tobacco consumption are well established. However, there is still limited empirical evidence about the underlying process through which the transmission is driven. This paper aims at analyzing parental time discounting and its role in the intergenerational transmission of smoking. The analysis is based on longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) for the years 2006, 2008 and 2010. We use a linear panel regression model to estimate the child’s likelihood of being a current smoker. The SOEP contains a great many of socio-economic characteristics and also meaningful measures of individual discounting behavior, namely, general patience and impulsivity. This enables us to distinguish between time preference and self-control, respectively. We find significant effects of time preference for both, mothers and fathers. That is, an increasing level of patience of parents is associated with a lower smokingIntergenerational correlations of risky health behaviors such as tobacco consumption are well established. However, there is still limited empirical evidence about the underlying process through which the transmission is driven. This paper aims at analyzing parental time discounting and its role in the intergenerational transmission of smoking. The analysis is based on longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) for the years 2006, 2008 and 2010. We use a linear panel regression model to estimate the child’s likelihood of being a current smoker. The SOEP contains a great many of socio-economic characteristics and also meaningful measures of individual discounting behavior, namely, general patience and impulsivity. This enables us to distinguish between time preference and self-control, respectively. We find significant effects of time preference for both, mothers and fathers. That is, an increasing level of patience of parents is associated with a lower smoking probability of the child. Regarding self-control, only father’s impulsivity has a similar decreasing impact. Stratifying the sample by gender reveals substantial mother-daughter, mother-son and father-son effects. Additionally, we estimate the influence of health-related mediating factors such as parental smoking and alcohol consumption. It turns out that role modeling as well as time discounting of the parents are highly relevant in this transmission process.show moreshow less

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Metadaten
Author:Philipp Hübler, Andreas Kucher
URN:urn:nbn:de:bvb:384-opus4-710902
Frontdoor URLhttps://opus.bibliothek.uni-augsburg.de/opus4/71090
Series (Serial Number):Volkswirtschaftliche Diskussionsreihe (326)
Publisher:Volkswirtschaftliches Institut, Universität Augsburg
Place of publication:Augsburg
Type:Working Paper
Language:English
Year of first Publication:2016
Publishing Institution:Universität Augsburg
Release Date:2020/02/21
Tag:JEL: D9, D10, I12, J13
Pagenumber:32
Institutes:Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät
Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre
Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre / Lehrstuhl für Finanzwissenschaft, insbesondere Gesundheitsökonomik
Dewey Decimal Classification:3 Sozialwissenschaften / 33 Wirtschaft / 330 Wirtschaft
Journals:Volkswirtschaftliche Diskussionsreihe
Licence (German):Deutsches Urheberrecht