October 2011

IZA DP No. 6092: The Effects of Children's ADHD on Parents' Relationship Dissolution and Labor Supply

Anette Primdal Kvist, Helena Skyt Nielsen, Marianne Simonsen

published as 'The importance of children's ADHD for parents' relationship stability and labor supply' in: Social Science and Medicine, 2013, 88, 30-38

This paper uses Danish register-based data for the population of children born in 1990-1997 to investigate the effects on parents of having a child with attention-deficit/hyperactivity-disorder (ADHD). Ten years after birth, parents of children diagnosed with ADHD have a 75% higher probability of having dissolved their relationship and a 7-13% lower labor supply. Exploiting detailed information about documented risk factors behind ADHD, we find that roughly half of this gap is due to selection. However, a statistically and economically significant gap is left, which is likely related to the impact of high psychic costs of coping with a child with ADHD.