Maria L. Andersen
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mlandersen.bsky.social
Maria L. Andersen
@mlandersen.bsky.social
PhD fellow at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. Researching parenthood and inequalities in mental health using population-based registries. Also fan of long-distance trail running🌲|| Interests: public/labour/gender econ & social policy
a sense of purpose, and may increase one's social network (e.g. meeting other parents, teachers etc). These factors could be protective in terms of mental health. I want to emphasise though that we cannot conclude about mechanisms based on our data. (2/2)
November 19, 2024 at 11:46 AM
Personally, I think both selection into parenthood and "lifestyle effects" of parenthood are possible explanations. It's not random who becomes a parent, parents typically are healthier. At the same time, parenthood also often results in a need for structure and routines in daily life, gives (1/2)
November 19, 2024 at 11:46 AM
Good question! Unfortunately, from the data we cannot know why people do/don’t see their GP. However, it seems unlikely that children keep parents too busy to visit their doctor at all ages (incl 50+). Parents also had a higher risk of certain symptoms, suggesting they don’t avoid seeing their GP.
November 19, 2024 at 8:27 AM
Absolutely! Unfortunately we don’t have health care records that stretch long enough to look at mental illness in early life. But we could (and did) control for marital status. Regardless of controls though, we cannot conclude about causality. So we see selection into parenthood as a key factor.
November 18, 2024 at 8:24 PM
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November 18, 2024 at 7:51 PM
🙋🏻‍♀️ I’m an interdisciplinary social scientist with an econ/psychology background. www.fhi.no/en/ab/depart...
November 17, 2024 at 5:38 PM
Also happy to be included! I work on socio-economic inequalities in health in Norway.
November 15, 2024 at 9:05 PM
🙋🏻‍♀️ (if there’s still room!) I do research on the drivers of mental health inequalities using population registry data📉
November 14, 2024 at 8:46 PM
Overall, parenthood appears to be an important indicator of mental health inequalities in the Norwegian population. Its growing importance may suggest stronger selection into parenthood across time and cohorts.

#MedSky #PublicHealth #MentalHealth
November 14, 2024 at 3:31 PM
Key insights (2/2):

• From 2006 to 2019, the mental health gap between parents and the childless has widened significantly
• Not all diagnoses and symptoms were negatively associated with parenthood; parents had higher odds of certain adverse mental health outcomes
November 14, 2024 at 3:31 PM
Key insights (1/2):

• Sibling- and twin-matched analyses were largely consistent with population-based results
• The difference in mental health was especially large for men and among those with only compulsory education
November 14, 2024 at 3:31 PM
🙋🏻‍♀️ And thanks for making this!!
November 12, 2024 at 1:38 PM