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(Breaking) Intergenerational Transmission of Mental Health

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Listed:
  • Aline Bütikofer
  • Rita Ginja
  • Krzysztof Karbownik
  • Fanny Landaud

Abstract

We estimate health associations across generations and dynasties using information on healthcare visits from administrative data for the entire Norwegian population. A parental mental health diagnosis is associated with a 9.3 percentage point (40%) higher probability of a mental health diagnosis of their adolescent child. Intensive margin physical and mental health associations are similar, and dynastic estimates account for about 40% of the intergenerational persistence. We also show that a policy targeting additional health resources for the young children of adults diagnosed with mental health conditions reduced the parent-child mental health association by about 40%.

Suggested Citation

  • Aline Bütikofer & Rita Ginja & Krzysztof Karbownik & Fanny Landaud, 2023. "(Breaking) Intergenerational Transmission of Mental Health," CESifo Working Paper Series 10542, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10542
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    1. Sarah Cattan & Christine Farquharson & Sonya Krutikova & Andrew McKendrick & Almudena Sevilla, 2023. "Parental labour market instability and children's mental health during the pandemic," IFS Working Papers W23/21, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    2. Orazio Attanasio & Áureo de Paula & Alessandro Toppeta, 2020. "Intergenerational Mobility in Socio-emotional Skills," NBER Working Papers 27823, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Gabriella Conti & Sören Kliem & Malte Sandner, 2024. "Early Home Visiting Delivery Model and Maternal and Child Mental Health at Primary School Age," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 114, pages 401-406, May.
    4. Yue, Ai & Song, Qiannan & Gao, Yuan & Liang, Shibin & Zhang, Xinyue & Zhang, Yali & Ding, Yuxiu & Shi, Yaojiang, 2024. "Effect of parenting centers on caregiver mental health ——Evidence from a large scale randomized controlled trial in rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    5. Chang, Harrison & Halliday, Timothy J. & Lin, Ming-Jen & Mazumder, Bhashkar, 2024. "Estimating intergenerational health transmission in Taiwan with administrative health records," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    6. Hervé, Justine & Mani, Subha & Behrman, Jere R. & Laxminarayan, Ramanan & Nandi, Arindam, 2025. "Intergenerational Mobility in Depression and Anxiety in India," IZA Discussion Papers 17647, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Kumar, Santosh & Halliday, Timothy J. & Mazumder, Bhash, 2025. "Cycles of Malnutrition: Intergenerational Health Transmission in India," IZA Discussion Papers 17684, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Angela Cools & Jared Grooms & Krzysztof Karbownik & Siobhan O'Keefe & Joseph Price & Anthony Wray, 2024. "Birth Order in the Very Long-Run: Estimating Firstborn Premiums between 1850 and 1940," CESifo Working Paper Series 11095, CESifo.
    9. Ramalingam Shanmugam & Karan P. Singh, 2025. "A New Measure for an Acceptable Level of Homogeneity in Meta-Informatics," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-17, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    mental health; intergenerational persistence; dynastic effects; public policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion

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