SEMINAR: The Oral Contraceptive Pill and Adolescents’ Mental Health
Seminar
Seminar
This event has now finished.
Event date
Wednesday 24 January 2024, 1pm to 2pm
Location
In-person only
A/D271 (above Alcuin Porters)
A/D271 (above Alcuin Porters)
Audience
Open to staff, students
Admission
Free admission, booking not required
Event details
Speaker: Ana Rodriguez-Gonzalez (Barcelona)
Abstract: What is the impact of the oral contraceptive pill on the mental health of adolescent girls? Using administrative data from Denmark and exploiting the variation in the timing of pill initiation in an event study design, we find that the likelihood of a depression diagnosis and antidepressant use increases shortly after pill initiation. We then uncover substantial variation in primary care providers’ tendency to prescribe the pill to adolescents, unrelated to patient characteristics. Being assigned to a high prescribing physician strongly predicts pill use by age 16 and leads to worse mental health outcomes between ages 16-18.
Host: Tho Pham (York)