Arbeitspapier

Family Spillover Effects of Marginal Diagnoses: The Case of ADHD

The health care system commonly relies on information about family medical history in the allocation of screenings and in diagnostic processes. At the same time, an emerging literature documents that treatment for "marginally diagnosed" patients often has minimal impacts. This paper shows that reliance on information about relatives' health can perpetuate marginal diagnoses across family members, thereby raising caseloads and health care costs, but without improving patient well-being. We study Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), the most common childhood mental health condition, and document that the younger siblings and cousins of marginally diagnosed children are also more likely to be diagnosed with and treated for ADHD. Moreover, we find that the younger relatives of marginally diagnosed children have no better adult human capital and economic outcomes than the younger relatives of those who are less likely to be diagnosed. Our analysis points to a simple adjustment to physician protocol that can mitigate these marginal diagnosis spillovers.

Sprache
Englisch

Erschienen in
Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 14020

Klassifikation
Wirtschaft
Health and Inequality
Health: Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
Thema
ADHD
targeting
marginal diagnosis
mental health
family spillovers

Ereignis
Geistige Schöpfung
(wer)
Persson, Petra
Qiu, Xinyao
Rossin-Slater, Maya
Ereignis
Veröffentlichung
(wer)
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
(wo)
Bonn
(wann)
2021

Handle
Letzte Aktualisierung
10.03.2025, 11:42 MEZ

Datenpartner

Dieses Objekt wird bereitgestellt von:
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. Bei Fragen zum Objekt wenden Sie sich bitte an den Datenpartner.

Objekttyp

  • Arbeitspapier

Beteiligte

  • Persson, Petra
  • Qiu, Xinyao
  • Rossin-Slater, Maya
  • Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Entstanden

  • 2021

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