Determinants of Children’s Mental Health: Relative Contributions when Accounting for Endogeneity, Self-Selection and Unobserved Heterogeneity

Anna Tort-Carrera , Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI-KNAW)/ University of Groningen
J.Paul Elhorst, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Groningen
Govert Bijwaard, Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI)

We investigate the relative contribution - sign, magnitude and significance levels - of individual and neighbourhood characteristics associated with children’s mental health when accounting for endogeneity, self-selection in neighbourhoods of different socio-economic status, and unobserved heterogeneity. We use two waves of data extracted from the Lifelines Cohort Study of children between 7 and 15 years of age in the North of the Netherlands. We distinguish and explain internalising and externalising behaviour using a random effects model in space and time and a cross-sectional model reformulated in first-differences. Our empirical results show that children living in adverse neighbourhood and household conditions present worse externalising and internalising behaviour symptoms. We also find that controlling for endogeneity leads to notable differences. Although present, accounting for self-selection does not appear to be as crucial as endogeneity. These findings are helpful for future prevention policies on the prevalence of mental health problems in children and adolescents.

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 Presented in Session 85. Health, Wellbeing and Morbidity