Antidepressants and Age

David Blanchflower and Andrew Oswald

No 5785, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Antidepressants as a commodity have been remarkably little-studied by economists. This study shows in new data for 27 European countries that 8% of people (and 10% of those middle-aged) take antidepressants each year. The probability of antidepressant use is greatest among those who are middle-aged, female, unemployed, poorly educated, and divorced or separated. A hill-shaped age pattern is found. The adjusted probability of using antidepressants reaches a peak – approximately doubling – in people’s late 40s. This finding is consistent with, and provides a new and independent form of corroboration of, recent claims in the research literature that human well-being follows a U-shape through life.

Keywords: happiness; well-being; aging; mental health; depression; Easterlin paradox (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 I12 I3 I31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2011-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-hea, nep-ltv and nep-neu
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Published - published as 'Antidepressants and age: A new form of evidence for U-shaped well-being through life' in: Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2016, 127, 46-58

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Working Paper: Antidepressants and Age (2011)
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