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The Great Recession and Children's Mental Health in Australia.

ABSTRACT: This paper analyzes the effects of "shocks" to community-level unemployment expectations, induced by the onset of the Great Recession, on children's mental well-being. The Australian experience of the Great Recession represents a unique case study as despite little change in actual unemployment rates, levels of economic uncertainty grew. This affords us the ability to examine the effects of shocks to economic expectations independent of any actual changes to economic conditions. We draw on and link data from multiple sources, including several waves of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (2004⁻2010), a consumer sentiment survey, and data on local economic conditions. Using our purpose-built data set, we estimate difference-in-differences models to identify plausibly causal effects. We find, for boys, there is no detectable effect of community-level unemployment expectations shocks on mental health. For girls, however, there are modest increases in mental health problems and externalizing behaviors, as measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). We additionally find no discernible change in mother's psychological distress as a result of expectations shocks. These results are stable after controlling for actual labor market conditions.

SUBMITTER: Bubonya M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6406973 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The Great Recession and Children's Mental Health in Australia.

Bubonya Melisa M Cobb-Clark Deborah A DA Christensen Daniel D Johnson Sarah E SE Zubrick Stephen R SR

International journal of environmental research and public health 20190213 4

This paper analyzes the effects of "shocks" to community-level unemployment expectations, induced by the onset of the Great Recession, on children's mental well-being. The Australian experience of the Great Recession represents a unique case study as despite little change in actual unemployment rates, levels of economic uncertainty grew. This affords us the ability to examine the effects of shocks to economic expectations independent of any actual changes to economic conditions. We draw on and l ...[more]

PMID: 30781815

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Project description:Those born in the United Kingdom post-1979 have been described as a 'jilted generation', materially disadvantaged by economic and social policy; however, it is unclear whether this resulted in their experiencing poorer mental health than previous cohorts. Following the 2008 recession, UK austerity reforms associated with worsening mental health also disproportionately impacted those of younger working-age. This study aimed to identify any historic cohort changes in population mental health, and whether austerity widened generational inequalities. Repeat cross-sectional data from the Health Survey for England (1991-2014) were used to calculate prevalence of psychopathology for those of younger and older working-age (16-30 and 31-64 years) and retirement-age (65+ years), measured by General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ) score ? 4 (caseness). Descriptive age-period-cohort analysis was performed for 15-year birth cohorts, including the jilted generation (born 1976-90). Logistic regression tested differences in outcome between groups. Age-specific GHQ caseness between successive birth cohorts did not significantly change for men, and significantly improved between 2.8% (95% CI 0.1%-5.5%) and 4.4% (95% CI 2.2%-6.7%) for women. Secondary analysis adjusting for education partially explained this improvement. Following the recession, GHQ caseness worsened in men of younger and older working-age by 3.7% (95% CI 1.2%-6.2%) and 3.5% (95% CI 2.1%-5.0%) respectively before returning to baseline during austerity. All women experienced non-significant increases post-recession, but trends diverged during austerity with caseness worsening by 2.3% (95% CI 1.0%-3.6%) for older working-age women versus 3.7% (95% CI 1.3%-6.2%) for younger working-age women. Those of retirement-age experienced little change throughout. In summary, mental health has historically improved between successive cohorts, including for the jilted generation. However, the 2008 recession and subsequent austerity could be most impacting those of younger working-age, particularly women, to create a new cohort effect. Policymakers should consider the differential impact economic and social policy may have across society by age.

Dataset Information

The Great Recession and Children's Mental Health in Australia.

Publications

The Great Recession and Children's Mental Health in Australia.

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