Mortality Risk Information, Survival Expectations and Sexual Behaviors

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Penn collection
Population Center Working Papers (PSC/PARC)
Degree type
Discipline
Subject
subjective mortality expectations
HIV/AIDS
sexual behavior
lifecycle decision-making
Diseases
Experimental Analysis of Behavior
Family, Life Course, and Society
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Sociology
Funder
Grant number
License
Copyright date
Distributor
Related resources
Contributor
Abstract

Individuals in low-income settings are often overly pessimistic about their own survival, suggesting that better knowledge about survival risks might encourage investments in health. This paper provides evidence from a randomized experiment that provided mature adults aged 45+ in Malawi with information about mortality risks. Treated individuals are less likely to engage in risky sexual practices one year after the intervention, and they increase other forward-looking behaviors such as investments in agriculture. Expectations of HIV+ people living longer, which makes the pool of potential partners riskier, are a primary driver of reduced sexual risk taking in response to the intervention.

Advisor
Date Range for Data Collection (Start Date)
Date Range for Data Collection (End Date)
Digital Object Identifier
Series name and number
Publication date
2020-01-29
Volume number
Issue number
Publisher
Publisher DOI
Journal Issue
Comments
Recommended citation
Collection