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Author: Hoyt, Gail Mitchell
Resulting in 3 citations.
1. Hoyt, Gail Mitchell
The Worker, the Firm, and the Decision to Use Drugs
Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Kentucky, 1992
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: UMI - University Microfilms, Bell and Howell Information and Learning
Keyword(s): Drug Use; Firms; Heterogeneity; Simultaneity; Substance Use; Work Attitudes

Substance abuse in the United States has increased dramatically in the past few decades, bringing costs to both users and society. As substance use has come to the forefront of public attention, this new awareness has been manifested in recent legislation and in the increased efforts of various organizations to prevent and control substance use. In order to investigate the effects of the vast quantity of resources devoted to substance control, I simultaneously estimate substance demand, wage, and drug control policy equations. This framework allows me to examine how employee assistance programs and drug testing affect drug use and how drug use in turn affects productivity, while controlling for the potential of worker sorting with regard to drug control policy. I depart from previous work by focusing on how drug use affects the user's employment status and earnings while incorporating the firm's attempts to discourage drug use in the workplace through drug testing and monitoring within an expected utility framework. While past studies have considered labor market effects of substance use, none have considered how firm structure and monitoring may also influence substance use. Because the market price of illicit drugs is difficult to obtain, and perhaps not as crucial to the drug user's consumption decision as the effective price, I incorporate the effective price as a combination of the probability of being caught using drugs while at work and the adverse effects associated with dismissal. I test for not only the direct effects of drug control policy within the firm, but the indirect sorting effects. Empirical results show that wages and the use of various licit and illicit substances tend to be positively correlated until controls for unobserved heterogeneity are incorporated, in which case a negative correlation arises. Findings also indicate that drug testing, employee assistance programs, and formal workplace substance use policy have a significant negative impact on workplace marijuana, cocaine, and alcohol use. Also, users of all three substances tend to sort away from firms with control policies present.
Bibliography Citation
Hoyt, Gail Mitchell. The Worker, the Firm, and the Decision to Use Drugs. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Kentucky, 1992.
2. Hoyt, Gail Mitchell
Chaloupka, Frank J.
Effect of Survey Conditions on Self-Reported Substance Use
Contemporary Economic Policy 12,3 (July 1994): 109-121.
Also: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1465-7287.1994.tb00439.x/abstract
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Western Economic Association International
Keyword(s): Alcohol Use; Data Quality/Consistency; Disability; Economics, Demographic; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; Modeling, Probit; Morbidity; Mortality; Self-Reporting; Substance Use

This paper examines the impact of survey conditions on the self-reported use of marijuana, cocaine, and alcohol in the 1984 and 1988 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). The analysis obtains probit estimates of lifetime and current participation rates and ordered probit estimates for the current frequency of use. The results clearly indicate that the manner in which the NLSY survey is administered significantly affects the self-reported substance use data. The presence of others at administration, self-administration, and data collection by telephone interview are particularly important influences.
Bibliography Citation
Hoyt, Gail Mitchell and Frank J. Chaloupka. "Effect of Survey Conditions on Self-Reported Substance Use." Contemporary Economic Policy 12,3 (July 1994): 109-121.
3. Hoyt, Gail Mitchell
Chaloupka, Frank J.
Self-Reported Substance Use and Survey Conditions: An Examination of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth
Presented: Lake Tahoe, NV, Issues in the Economic Analysis of Substance Abuse Session of the Western Economic Association Meetings, June 1993
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Western Economic Association International
Keyword(s): Alcohol Use; Drug Use; Illegal Activities; Labor Market Surveys; Self-Reporting; Substance Use

The problems associated with substance use and abuse, particularly among youths, have received increasing attention in recent years. Consequently, economists, public health researchers, and other social scientists have engaged in numerous studies analyzing the determinants of cigarette smoking, drinking, and illicit drug use, as well as the effectiveness of public and private campaigns to discourage these behaviors. In addition, the effects of substance use/abuse on various outcomes, particularly labor force behavior, has been carefully examined. Many of these studies, especially those looking at the determinants/impact of illicit drug use, employ survey data in their analyses. One criticism of studies examining survey data is the self-reported nature of the substance use information. Several factors may contribute to inaccurate or biased information being collected in these surveys. Perhaps most important is the respondent's understandable fear of reporting a behavior that is either illegal (i.e. illicit drug use or underage drinking) or socially unacceptable (i.e. cigarette smoking in recent years). In addition, a respondent may unknowingly report inaccurate levels of substance use. With the availability of look alike drugs and the difficulties in measuring substance quantities and/or purities, a respondent may believe that they are conveying information truthfully when in actuality they are misreporting their use. Finally, the conditions under which the survey is administered may lead to intentional misreporting of substance use. The presence of parents or others during the collection of substance use information may inhibit the respondent from reporting truthfully.
Bibliography Citation
Hoyt, Gail Mitchell and Frank J. Chaloupka. "Self-Reported Substance Use and Survey Conditions: An Examination of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth." Presented: Lake Tahoe, NV, Issues in the Economic Analysis of Substance Abuse Session of the Western Economic Association Meetings, June 1993.