Mental Illness as a Barrier to Marriage Among Mothers With Out-of-Wedlock Births

Julien Teitler and Nancy Reichman
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Julien Teitler: Columbia University
Nancy Reichman: Princeton University and Rutgers University

No 907, Working Papers from Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing.

Abstract: This study explores how mental illness shapes transitions to marriage among unwed mothers using augmented data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study. We estimate proportional hazard models to assess the effects of mental illness on the likelihood of marriage over a five year period following a non-marital birth. Diagnosed mental illness was obtained from the survey respondents' prenatal medical records. We find that mothers with mental illness were about two thirds as likely as mothers without mental illness to marry, even after controlling for demographic characteristics, and that human capital, relationship quality, partner selection, and substance abuse explain only a small proportion of the effect of mental illness on marriage.

JEL-codes: I12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007-07
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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