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Do Stimulant Medications Improve Educational and Behavioral Outcomes for Children with ADHD?

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  • Janet Currie
  • Mark Stabile
  • Lauren E. Jones

Abstract

We examine the effects of a policy change in the province of Quebec, Canada which greatly expanded insurance coverage for prescription medications. We show that the change was associated with a sharp increase in the use of stimulant medications commonly prescribed for ADHD in Quebec relative to the rest of Canada. We ask whether this increase in medication use was associated with improvements in emotional functioning or academic outcomes among children with ADHD. We find little evidence of improvement in either the medium or the long run. Our results are silent on the effects on optimal use of medication for ADHD, but suggest that expanding medication in a community setting had little positive benefit and may have had harmful effects given the average way these drugs are used in the community.

Suggested Citation

  • Janet Currie & Mark Stabile & Lauren E. Jones, 2013. "Do Stimulant Medications Improve Educational and Behavioral Outcomes for Children with ADHD?," NBER Working Papers 19105, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19105
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    Cited by:

    1. Persson, Petra & Qiu, Xinyao & Rossin-Slater, Maya, 2021. "Family Spillover Effects of Marginal Diagnoses: The Case of ADHD," IZA Discussion Papers 14020, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Persson, Petra & Qiu, Xinyao & Rossin-Slater, Maya, 2021. "Family Spillover Effects of Marginal Diagnoses: The Case of ADHD," CEPR Discussion Papers 15660, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Chorniy, Anna & Currie, Janet & Sonchak, Lyudmyla, 2018. "Exploding asthma and ADHD caseloads: The role of medicaid managed care," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 1-15.
    4. Jill Furzer & Maripier Isabelle & Boriana Miloucheva & Audrey Laporte, 2023. "Public drug insurance, moral hazard and children's use of mental health medication: Latent mental health risk‐specific responses to lower out‐of‐pocket treatment costs," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(2), pages 518-538, February.
    5. Dalsgaard, Søren & Nielsen, Helena Skyt & Simonsen, Marianne, 2014. "Consequences of ADHD medication use for children's outcomes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 137-151.
    6. Kelly Bedard & Allison Witman, 2020. "Family structure and the gender gap in ADHD," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 1101-1129, December.
    7. Chorniy, Anna, 2016. "Sex, Drugs, and ADHD: The Effects of ADHD Pharmacological Treatment on Teens' Risky Behaviors," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145766, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    8. Jill Furzer & Elizabeth Dhuey & Audrey Laporte, 2022. "ADHD misdiagnosis: Causes and mitigators," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(9), pages 1926-1953, September.
    9. Yamaguchi, Shintaro & Asai, Yukiko & Kambayashi, Ryo, 2018. "How does early childcare enrollment affect children, parents, and their interactions?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 56-71.
    10. Cornaglia, Francesca & Crivellaro, Elena & McNally, Sandra, 2015. "Mental health and education decisions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 1-12.
    11. Hannes Schwandt & Amelie Wuppermann, 2015. "The youngest Get the Pill: ADHD Misdiagnosis and the Production of Education in Germany," CEP Discussion Papers dp1394, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    12. Laetitia Lebihan, 2023. "The impact of a mandatory universal drug insurance program on health behaviors and outcomes," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(9), pages 2006-2046, September.
    13. Chen, Kelly & Phipps, Shelley, 2021. "“Why can't you sit still?”The effect of daily physical activity on childhood inattention/hyperactivity and the educational gender gap," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).
    14. Seth M. Freedman & Kelli R. Marquardt & Dario Salcedo & Kosali I. Simon & Coady Wing, 2023. "Societal Disruptions And Child Mental Health: Evidence From ADHD Diagnosis During The COVID-19 Pandemic," NBER Working Papers 30909, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Schwandt, Hannes & Wuppermann, Amelie, 2016. "The youngest get the pill: ADHD misdiagnosis in Germany, its regional correlates and international comparison," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 72-86.
    16. Nafilyan, Vahé & Pabon, Mauricio Avendano & de Coulon, Augustin, 2021. "The Causal Impact of Depression on Cognitive Functioning: Evidence from Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 14049, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Kelly Chen & Nicole Fortin & Shelley Phipps, 2015. "Young in class: Implications for inattentive/hyperactive behaviour of Canadian boys and girls," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 48(5), pages 1601-1634, December.
    18. Noémi Kreif & Richard Grieve & Dominik Hangartner & Alex James Turner & Silviya Nikolova & Matt Sutton, 2016. "Examination of the Synthetic Control Method for Evaluating Health Policies with Multiple Treated Units," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(12), pages 1514-1528, December.
    19. Chorniy, Anna & Kitashima, Leah, 2016. "Sex, drugs, and ADHD: The effects of ADHD pharmacological treatment on teens' risky behaviors," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 87-105.
    20. Ezra Golberstein & Irina Zainullina & Aaron Sojourner & Mark A. Sander, 2024. "Effects of School-Based Mental Health Services on Youth Outcomes," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 59(S), pages 256-281.
    21. Jill Furzer & Maripier Isabelle & Boriana Miloucheva & Audrey Laporte, 2021. "Public drug insurance and children’s use of mental health medication: Risk-specific responses to lower out-of-pocket treatment costs," CIRANO Working Papers 2021s-34, CIRANO.
    22. Nicodemo, Catia & Nicoletti, Cheti & Vidiella-Martin, Joaquim, 2024. "Starting School and ADHD: When Is It Time to Fly the Nest?," IZA Discussion Papers 17091, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    23. Bertoni, M.; & Marin-Lopez, B.A.; & Sanz-de-Galdeano, A.;, 2023. "Subjective Gender-Based Patterns in ADHD Diagnosis," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 23/17, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.

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