The Role of Maternal Postpartum Depression on Newborn and Siblings' Behaviour

Lucia Schiavon

Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers from University of Turin

Abstract: In this paper, we study whether maternal postpartum depression affects children's behaviour, not only of the newborn but also of his older siblings. Moreover, we investigate if the presence of older siblings in household softens the impact of maternal distress on the behaviour of the newborn. Using data from the Millennium Cohort Study (UK data service), we estimate the effect of maternal postpartum depression on five behavioural dimensions derived from the Strengths and Diculties questionnaire, for both newborn and older siblings (when present). Results confirm the association between maternal postpartum depression and behavioural problems. Conversely no significant difference emerged between newborn and older siblings, we found no evidence of a role of older siblings in mitigating the negative consequences of maternal postpartum depression on newborn non-cognitive development. Our findings are robust to different specification of behavioural problems. Overall, our results suggest that newborn and older siblings are similarly exposed to the negative consequences of maternal distress.

Pages: pages 33
Date: 2021-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-neu
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:uto:dipeco:202104

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