Search Results

Title: Mental Health in Childhood and Human Capital
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Currie, Janet
Stabile, Mark
Mental Health in Childhood and Human Capital
Presented: Chicago, IL, The Harris School, The University of Chicago, Conference on Health and Attainment Over the Lifecourse: Reciprocal Influences from Before Birth to Old Age, May 16, 2008
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Attention/Attention Deficit; Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Canada, Canadian; Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY); Child Health; Children, Mental Health; Cross-national Analysis; Family Income; Head Start; Job Aspirations; Labor Market Outcomes; Modeling, Fixed Effects; Mothers, Education; Preschool Children; Rotter Scale (see Locus of Control); School Progress; Siblings; Sociability/Socialization/Social Interaction

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Although mental disorders are common among children, we know little about their long term effects on child outcomes. This paper examines U.S. and Canadian children with symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), depression, conduct disorders, and other behavioral problems. Our work offers a number of innovations. First we use large nationally representative samples of children from both countries. Second, we focus on "screeners" that were administered to all children in our sample, rather than on diagnosed cases. Third, we address omitted variables bias by estimating sibling-fixed effects models. Fourth, we examine a range of outcomes. Fifth, we ask how the effects of mental health conditions are mediated by family income and maternal education. We find that mental health conditions, and especially ADHD, have large negative effects on future test scores and schooling attainment, regardless of family income and maternal education.
Bibliography Citation
Currie, Janet and Mark Stabile. "Mental Health in Childhood and Human Capital." Presented: Chicago, IL, The Harris School, The University of Chicago, Conference on Health and Attainment Over the Lifecourse: Reciprocal Influences from Before Birth to Old Age, May 16, 2008.