Children Emotional and Behavioral Problems and Parental Work Decisions

In the United States, psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents are widespread and interfere with their cognitive, social, emotional development, and functioning. These disorders place a considerable burden on children, families, schools, and communities. Societal costs of children mental disorders include early pregnancy, violence, criminality, educational underachievement, and substantial expenditures. In addition, children with mental disorders impose time and financial constraints on their family. As a result, parental work choices are negatively impacted. Therefore, because the earnings from the parent's work are a major source of financial resources available to the child, this situation would result in reduced ability to invest in the child's health and aggravate socio-economic inequalities, especially for low income families. Previous studies in this area focus mostly on the effects of children's disability on their single parent, particularly their mother's work choices, and vary considerably in their sample size and model specifications. This study emphasizes the effects of children's emotional and behavioral problems on their parental labor markets behavior while considering a range of family structures.

I use data from 1997, 2002, and 2003 of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and the Child Development Supplements (CDS I & II) for this analysis. The subjects for this analysis consist of focal children aged from 3 to 17 years old and their parents. Separate analyses are conducted by family structure including cohabitating and married, and single households. I use four different specifications for the dichotomous outcome measures of parents' labor force participation and children's mental health status while accounting for endogeneity between these 2 variables. Based on preliminary analyses, I found that children with emotional and behavioral health problems have a significant negative effect on parental work decisions, particularly their single mothers.

It is essential for policy makers and researchers to understand these effects because of the role the parent's income plays in shaping the child health, educational, and economic trajectories. This study aims to provide policymakers, employers, and parents with a better understanding of the mechanisms through which the child's mental illness influences the parent's ability to work. The results of this study might help policymakers and employers in implementing programs that address the needs of these families while rewarding work habits.