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Intergenerational Mobility in Depression and Anxiety in India

Author

Listed:
  • Justine Herve

    (Stevens Institute of Technology)

  • Subha Mani

    (Fordham University)

  • Jere Behrman

    (University of Pennsylvania)

  • Ramanan Laxminarayan

    (One Health Trust and Princeton University)

  • Arindam Nandi

    (The Population Council and One Health Trust)

Abstract

This paper is the first to provide estimates of intergenerational associations in mental health for a low- and middle-income country. Using rich mental health data on ~4,000 parent-child pairs in India, we find intergenerational associations in depression and anxiety scores to be 0.61 and 0.68, respectively, suggesting low mobility in mental health. However, once we allow for the mobility estimates to vary along the distribution of parental mental health, we find notable heterogeneity - while minimal symptoms of anxiety and depression in parents persist into the next generation, children of parents with mild to severe symptoms experience significant improvements in mental health. This upward mobility in mental health is largely driven by high socioeconomic-status households. Importantly, we show that even minimal symptoms have significant economic implications for both children and adults. Our findings suggest that programs that improve mental health in one generation can also facilitate intergenerational mobility in mental health and related outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Justine Herve & Subha Mani & Jere Behrman & Ramanan Laxminarayan & Arindam Nandi, 2025. "Intergenerational Mobility in Depression and Anxiety in India," PIER Working Paper Archive 25-001, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania.
    • Handle: RePEc:pen:papers:25-001
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    File URL: https://economics.sas.upenn.edu/system/files/working-papers/25-001%20PIER%20Paper%20Submission.pdf
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Intergenerational mobility; Mental health; India;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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