Does Stress Shorten Your Life? Evidence from Parental Bereavement

Bernhard Schmidpeter

Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 2024, vol. 86, issue 3, 485-518

Abstract: I study the impact of stress resulting from the unexpected death of a child on parents' mortality risk. Using a flexible approach and allowing for time‐varying treatment effects, I find no impact on the short‐run mortality risk. However, I estimate a substantial increase in the long‐run, particularly among men. I provide evidence that this group likely resorts to risky health behaviours such as heavy smoking and drinking as coping mechanisms. Assessing the possible protective effects of mental health support, I find evidence that it lowers the mortality risk for women. Mental health support has a smaller impact for men. I show that this is likely due to underutilization by those who would benefit the most. Finally, I present robustness of my results to specific departure from my identifying assumptions.

Date: 2024
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