The Parenthood Penalty in Mental Health: Evidence from Austria and Denmark

Alexander Ahammer, Ulrich Glogowsky, Martin Halla and Timo Hener

No 10676, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: Using Austrian and Danish administrative data, we examine the impacts of parenthood on mental health. Parenthood imposes a greater mental health burden on mothers than on fathers. It creates a long-run gender gap in antidepressant prescriptions of about 93.2% (Austria) and 64.8% (Denmark). These parenthood penalties in mental health are unlikely to reflect differential help-seeking behavior across the sexes or postpartum depression. Instead, they are related to mothers’ higher investments in childcare: Mothers who take extended maternity leave in quasi-experimental settings are more likely to face mental health problems.

Keywords: gender equality; fertility; parenthood; motherhood; mental health; parental leave (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D63 I10 J13 J16 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-hea and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp10676.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The Parenthood Penalty in Mental Health: Evidence from Austria and Denmark (2024)
Working Paper: The Parenthood Penalty in Mental Health: Evidence from Austria and Denmark (2024)
Working Paper: The Parenthood Penalty in Mental Health: Evidence from Austria and Denmark (2023)
Working Paper: The parenthood penalty in mental health: Evidence from Austria and Denmark (2023)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10676

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