Who does the hat fit? Teenager heterogeneity and the effectiveness of information policies in preventing cannabis use and heavy drinking
利用法国青少年数据，通过潜在类别模型分析信息接触与大麻使用和重度饮酒的关系，发现青少年分为五类，异质性和习惯形成限制了通用信息政策的效果，需针对性干预。
This paper models heterogeneity in the relationship between exposure to information at school or in the media and cannabis use and heavy drinking, using latent class techniques applied to data on French teenagers collected in 1993. Teenagers cluster in five classes which differ in their tastes for drunkenness and cannabis, and in the correlations between information exposure and cannabis use or heavy drinking. Teenager heterogeneity and habit-formation or precociousness effects limit the effectiveness of general information policies. Improving the impact of prevention requires that interventions be better targeted and personalised. We show how economic theory, latent class techniques and existing psychometric questionnaires can be used to build simple statistical tools for targeting prevention policies.