TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Ahammer, Alexander
AU  - Glogowsky, Ulrich
AU  - Halla, Martin
AU  - Hener, Timo
        TI  - The Parenthood Penalty in Mental Health: Evidence from Austria and Denmark
        PY  - 2023/Sep/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 16459
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp16459
        AB  - 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.
        KW  - gender equality
KW  - fertility
KW  - parenthood
KW  - motherhood
KW  - mental health
KW  - parental leave
        ER  -