The Effect of a Miscarriage on Mental Health, Labour Market, and Family Outcomes

Abstract

We investigate the effect of a miscarriage on mental health care use, labour market and family outcomes of women and their partners using Dutch linked administrative data. Miscarriages are common and largely random conditional on age. We estimate event study models using women with a completed pregnancy as a control group. A first miscarriage increases women’s use of mental health therapy compared to the control group. These effects disappear over time. Partners are equally likely to use any mental health care as the control group. There are differences in labour market outcomes and probability of living together.

Note:
Funding Information: The authors have no funding to declare.

Declaration of Interests: The authors have no conflict of interest.

Ethics Approval Statement: Not applicable. This is not medical research and participants are not subject to procedures or rules of behaviour. We use observational data collected for other purposes.

Keywords: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Mental health care, Labour market, Couples

JEL Classification: J13, J16, I1