Arbeitspapier

A hard pill to swallow? Parental health shocks and children's mental health

Based on comprehensive administrative health record data from Austria, this study examines how children's mental health responds to a severe parental health shock. To account for the endogeneity of a serious parental illness, our sample is restricted to children who experience the health shock of a parent at some point in time and we exploit the timing of shocks in a dynamic DID setting. We find a positive causal effect of parental health shocks on children's mental health care utilization. Affected children have higher medical attendance for the treatment of mental illnesses, consume more psychotropic drugs, and are more likely to be hospitalized with mental and behavioral disorders. A significant increase in the utilization of antidepressants, anxiolytics, and sedatives can be observed for older children, girls and children with a white-collar family background. Our findings have important policy implications for children's access to psychotherapies and mental health care after experiencing a traumatic household event.

Language
Englisch

Bibliographic citation
Series: Working Paper ; No. 2215

Classification
Wirtschaft
Health: General
Health Behavior
Health and Inequality
General Welfare; Well-Being
Subject
Mental health of children
parental health shock
difference-in-differences

Event
Geistige Schöpfung
(who)
Glaser, Felix
Pruckner, Gerald J.
Event
Veröffentlichung
(who)
Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Department of Economics
(where)
Linz
(when)
2022

Handle
Last update
10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET

Data provider

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Object type

  • Arbeitspapier

Associated

  • Glaser, Felix
  • Pruckner, Gerald J.
  • Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Department of Economics

Time of origin

  • 2022

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