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Social Assistance and Mental Health: Evidence from Longitudinal Data on Pharmaceutical Consumption

Dackehag, Margareta LU orcid ; Ellegård, Lina Maria LU ; Gerdtham, Ulf LU orcid and Nilsson, Therese LU (2018) In Working Papers
Abstract
This paper examines the short-term effect between take-up of Social Assistance Benefit (SAB) and mental health. Using a panel dataset including rich yearly register data on e.g. income, income sources, unemployment and types of pharmaceutical consumption for over 140,000 Swedes 2006-2012, we quantify the importance of the psychosocial dimensions (e.g. shame and guilt) of the socioeconomic status – mental health nexus. Our main independent variable is an indicator for SAB, which is the means-tested last-resort option for individuals with no other means to cover necessary living expenses, received by six per cent of all Swedish households annually. Mental ill-health is measured by data on prescribed antidepressants, anxiolytics, or... (More)
This paper examines the short-term effect between take-up of Social Assistance Benefit (SAB) and mental health. Using a panel dataset including rich yearly register data on e.g. income, income sources, unemployment and types of pharmaceutical consumption for over 140,000 Swedes 2006-2012, we quantify the importance of the psychosocial dimensions (e.g. shame and guilt) of the socioeconomic status – mental health nexus. Our main independent variable is an indicator for SAB, which is the means-tested last-resort option for individuals with no other means to cover necessary living expenses, received by six per cent of all Swedish households annually. Mental ill-health is measured by data on prescribed antidepressants, anxiolytics, or hypnotics. While SAB strongly associates with psychopharmaca consumption in a cross-section of observations, the association largely disappear once we introduce individual fixed effects. These results indicate that other mechanisms than shame or guilt related to the SAB experience are more important for mental health in the short term. (Less)
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
keywords
mental health, socio-economic status, social assistance, shame, guilt, individual fixed effect, I12, I14, I18
in
Working Papers
issue
2018:2
pages
35 pages
publisher
Department of Economics, Lund University
project
Public Management Research
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
88936919-b53d-4443-aba0-3aa468dd6d35
date added to LUP
2018-02-16 09:45:22
date last changed
2024-09-10 00:04:13
@misc{88936919-b53d-4443-aba0-3aa468dd6d35,
  abstract     = {{This paper examines the short-term effect between take-up of Social Assistance Benefit (SAB) and mental health. Using a panel dataset including rich yearly register data on e.g. income, income sources, unemployment and types of pharmaceutical consumption for over 140,000 Swedes 2006-2012, we quantify the importance of the psychosocial dimensions (e.g. shame and guilt) of the socioeconomic status – mental health nexus. Our main independent variable is an indicator for SAB, which is the means-tested last-resort option for individuals with no other means to cover necessary living expenses, received by six per cent of all Swedish households annually. Mental ill-health is measured by data on prescribed antidepressants, anxiolytics, or hypnotics. While SAB strongly associates with psychopharmaca consumption in a cross-section of observations, the association largely disappear once we introduce individual fixed effects. These results indicate that other mechanisms than shame or guilt related to the SAB experience are more important for mental health in the short term.}},
  author       = {{Dackehag, Margareta and Ellegård, Lina Maria and Gerdtham, Ulf and Nilsson, Therese}},
  keywords     = {{mental health; socio-economic status; social assistance; shame; guilt; individual fixed effect; I12; I14; I18}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Working Paper}},
  number       = {{2018:2}},
  publisher    = {{Department of Economics, Lund University}},
  series       = {{Working Papers}},
  title        = {{Social Assistance and Mental Health: Evidence from Longitudinal Data on Pharmaceutical Consumption}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/194844789/WP18_2.pdf}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}