Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
The widespread use of illicit substances by American teenagers has attracted the interest of both the general public and academic researchers. Among the various factors that people believe influence youth substance use, peer effects are identified as a critical determinant. Identifying peer effects, however, is known to be a difficult task. In an attempt to overcome known difficulties, I estimate peer effects on substance usage among American teenagers using perceived peer behavior in the National Longitudinal Survey Youth 97. The data indicate robust peer effects. Moreover, the results do not change substantially in school and household fixed effects estimations. Copyright Springer-Verlag 2004