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Parental decisions to divorce and have additional children among families with children with cerebral palsy : Evidence from Swedish longitudinal and administrative data

Müller, Vibeke LU ; Gerdtham, Ulf LU orcid ; Alriksson-Schmidt, Ann LU and Jarl, Johan LU orcid (2022) In Health Economics 31(10). p.2170-2186
Abstract

This study analyzes the relationship of having a child with the early-onset disability cerebral palsy (CP) and the parental decision to divorce and to have additional children. We use longitudinal matched case-control data from multiple linked Swedish National Population Registers between 2001 and 2015 and perform Cox proportional hazards regressions with interval-censoring. Although we do not find a general excess parental divorce risk on CP relative to the comparison group without CP, we find that having a child with CP increases the risk of divorce for parents with low education. We also find that having a child with CP reduces the likelihood of having additional children, especially for mothers in the older age range (maternal age... (More)

This study analyzes the relationship of having a child with the early-onset disability cerebral palsy (CP) and the parental decision to divorce and to have additional children. We use longitudinal matched case-control data from multiple linked Swedish National Population Registers between 2001 and 2015 and perform Cox proportional hazards regressions with interval-censoring. Although we do not find a general excess parental divorce risk on CP relative to the comparison group without CP, we find that having a child with CP increases the risk of divorce for parents with low education. We also find that having a child with CP reduces the likelihood of having additional children, especially for mothers in the older age range (maternal age at delivery >33 years) and parents with low education. The severity level of the disability, as indicated by gross motor function, is not related to the results. These findings should be understood in the Swedish context, which provides extensive welfare support (e.g., personal assistance). If future studies would find adverse results in countries with less social care and benefits, our results may indicate that it is possible to mitigate negative consequences for the family of a child with disability.

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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
cerebral palsy, divorce, early-onset disability, family formation, register-based study
in
Health Economics
volume
31
issue
10
pages
2170 - 2186
publisher
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
external identifiers
  • pmid:35778857
  • scopus:85133184970
ISSN
1099-1050
DOI
10.1002/hec.4567
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ddfd8731-6b01-43b5-ac77-191798774f59
date added to LUP
2022-07-04 08:26:05
date last changed
2024-05-28 12:15:24
@article{ddfd8731-6b01-43b5-ac77-191798774f59,
  abstract     = {{<p>This study analyzes the relationship of having a child with the early-onset disability cerebral palsy (CP) and the parental decision to divorce and to have additional children. We use longitudinal matched case-control data from multiple linked Swedish National Population Registers between 2001 and 2015 and perform Cox proportional hazards regressions with interval-censoring. Although we do not find a general excess parental divorce risk on CP relative to the comparison group without CP, we find that having a child with CP increases the risk of divorce for parents with low education. We also find that having a child with CP reduces the likelihood of having additional children, especially for mothers in the older age range (maternal age at delivery &gt;33 years) and parents with low education. The severity level of the disability, as indicated by gross motor function, is not related to the results. These findings should be understood in the Swedish context, which provides extensive welfare support (e.g., personal assistance). If future studies would find adverse results in countries with less social care and benefits, our results may indicate that it is possible to mitigate negative consequences for the family of a child with disability.</p>}},
  author       = {{Müller, Vibeke and Gerdtham, Ulf and Alriksson-Schmidt, Ann and Jarl, Johan}},
  issn         = {{1099-1050}},
  keywords     = {{cerebral palsy; divorce; early-onset disability; family formation; register-based study}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{07}},
  number       = {{10}},
  pages        = {{2170--2186}},
  publisher    = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
  series       = {{Health Economics}},
  title        = {{Parental decisions to divorce and have additional children among families with children with cerebral palsy : Evidence from Swedish longitudinal and administrative data}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hec.4567}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/hec.4567}},
  volume       = {{31}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}