TY  - JOUR
AU  - Currie,Janet
AU  - Stabile,Mark
TI  - Mental Health in Childhood and Human Capital
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 13217
PY  - 2007
Y2  - July 2007
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13217
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13217.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Janet Currie
Princeton University
316 Wallace Hall
Princeton, NJ 08544
Tel: 609-258-7393
Fax: 609-258-5974
E-Mail: jcurrie@princeton.edu

Mark Stabile
School of Public Policy and Governance
University of Toronto
14 Queen's Park Cres. W.
Toronto, ON M5S 3K9
CANADA
Tel: 416/978-4329
Fax: 416/978-5079
E-Mail: mark.stabile@utoronto.ca
M1  - published as Janet Currie, Mark Stabile. "Mental Health in Childhood and Human Capital," in Jonathan Gruber, editor, "The Problems of Disadvantaged Youth: An Economic Perspective" University of Chicago Press (2009)

M3  - presented at "Conference on Disadvantaged Youth", April 13-14, 2007
AB  - 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.
ER  -