Information treatments and perceived costs: a contingent valuation estimation of the willingness to pay by justice-involved youth to avoid sexually transmitted infections

Risky health behavior such as such as smoking, drinking and risky sex are substantial contributors to US morbidity rates and healthcare costs. While agents participating in this behavior are modeled as rational agents (Becker and Murphy 1988; Van Kippersluis and Galama 2013), a growing literature suggests that information constraints play an important role in unhealthy behaviors (Cheng 2011; Lee et al. 2010). Supporting this idea, a large clinical psychology literature demonstrates that interventions that provide information (generally known as behavioral interventions) can successfully modify risky health behaviors.  In this study we empirically investigate the impact of a behavioral health intervention on the perceived costs of obtaining a sexually transmitted infection (STI) to a cohort of justice involved youth.  Using data from Project MARS (Motivating Adolescents to Reduce Sexual Risk), we utilize a contingent valuation (CV) survey and find that after receiving the intervention project MARS participants were willing to pay (WTP) significantly more to avoid obtaining an STI and also that WTP was sensitive to severity of infection.