Page 156 - GHES-3-1

Global Health Economics and
Sustainability

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Affect heuristics and peer effect on substance

use among adolescents in Brazil

Auberth Henrik Venson*
Department of Economics, Center of Applied Social Studies, Londrina State University, Londrina,
Paraná, Brazil

Abstract
Significant changes are observed during adolescence with respect to health-related
habits and risky behaviors. Among the behavioral changes, the consumption of
substances such as alcoholic beverages, cigarettes, and illicit drugs, and social
interactions are relevant factors for the intake of such substances. This study aims to
analyze the relationship between the joint decisions of substance use by adolescents
and their peers from the perspective of the affect heuristics. To this end, a multivariate
probit model was estimated, based on microdata from the 2019 National School
Health Survey. The results showed that substance use by adolescents was positively
related to substance use by their peers; therefore, having friends who consume
alcohol, illicit drugs, and cigarettes or having parents who consume alcohol or
Academic editor:
Mihajlo Jakovljevic M.D. Ph.D. MAE cigarettes increases the likelihood of an adolescent consuming these substances.
The study also identified that the substance consumption decision was governed by
*Corresponding author:
Auberth Henrik Venson an unobserved common factor compatible with the affect heuristic.
(auberth@uel.br)
Citation: Venson, AH. (2025). Keywords: Affect heuristic; Substance use; Adolescents; Peer effect
Affect heuristics and peer effect on
substance use among adolescents
in Brazil. Global Health Econ
Sustain, 3(1):148-162.
https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.3829 1. Introduction
Received: June 4, 2024 Health risk behaviors, such as smoking, drinking alcohol, using drugs, having
1st revised: August 9, 2024 unprotected sex, following a poor diet, and being sedentary are among the main causes of
2nd revised: August 17, 2024 deaths from preventable causes (Cawley & Rhum, 2011). This information has attracted
attention toward studying health risk behaviors in adolescents.
Accepted: August 23, 2024
Published online: October 16, Risk perception is related to Loewenstein et al.’s (2001) hypothesis of risk as a
2024 sensation, according to which individuals’ risk-related behavior is associated with
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s). their feelings about specific risk situations. These feelings can be positive or negative
This is an Open Access article depending on how vividly the individual imagines the consequences and personal
distributed under the terms of the exposure or experiences with outcomes.
Creative Commons Attribution
License, permitting distribution, Slovic et al. (2002; 2005) emphasized the role of the affect heuristic in risk decision-
and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is making, stating that individuals’ emotional responses to a decision significantly influence
properly cited. their perceptions of risk. Affect is defined as the immediate positive or negative feeling
Publisher’s Note: AccScience associated with a stimulus; this feeling shapes how individuals assess the relationship
Publishing remains neutral with between risk and benefit. Typically, higher risk correlates with higher returns;
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional however, the affect heuristic can reverse this perception; for instance, individuals could
affiliations. underestimate risks if they view an activity as highly beneficial. This effect is evident

Volume 3 Issue 1 (2025) 148 https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.3829