Number of children and disability pension due to mental and musculoskeletal disorders: A longitudinal register-based study in Norway

Abstract

Earlier research has documented a relationship between parity and all-cause mortality, as well as parity and cause-specific mortality (e.g. cancer and cardiovascular disease mortality). Less is known about the relationship between parity and two very common (but less deadly) types of disorder: mental and musculoskeletal. We examine the association between parity and risk of disability pensioning from all causes and due to mental or musculoskeletal disorders, using Norwegian register data. In addition to controlling for adult socio-demographic characteristics, we control for unobserved confounding from family background by estimating sibling fixed-effects models. We find a higher risk of disability pensioning among the childless and those with one child than for parents with two children, both for all causes combined and for mental disorders. Childless men and fathers with one child also experience excess risk of being pensioned due to musculoskeletal disorders. For mental disorders, we find a positive association with high parity, particularly for men.

Keywords:

• disability
• fertility
• parity
• mental health
• longitudinal
• register data
• Norway

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Solveig Glestad Christiansen is based at the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Drugs, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway. Øystein Kravdal is based at the Centre for Fertility and Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, and also the Department of Economics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.

2 Please direct all correspondence to Solveig Glestad Christiansen, Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Drugs, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Postal address: PO Box 222, Skøyen, N-0213 Oslo, Norway; or by E-mail: [email protected].

3 Funding: The work was partly funded by the Norwegian Research Council under the Centre of Excellence funding scheme, grant number 262700.

4 Acknowledgements: Thanks to two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions.

5 Data availability statement: The data on which this study is based can only be used in collaboration with the Centre for Fertility and Health at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and for analysis of relationships between fertility, family situation, and health.